Jaune's Escapades
by TheWindWakersDream
Summary: I know that it's old hat by now, but here's another terrible RWBY fic with Jaune as a cliche anime protagonist, watch as all the girls fall for him while he doesn't even know about it. But... wouldn't having all the girls like the same guy break team RWBY apart? How would Jaune react to this? Who knows...
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 – A Rose by Any Other Name

**Hello everyone, this is the first story that I've ever written in my entire life. I've been woking on it for a while now, but only recently managed to acquire a laptop to submit it with. I owe a great deal of gratitude to many different authors for enough inspiration to write this: destinyTail0, The Rogue King, Defiled Ladel, H'te Rarpee, Serfius, FaintQuill, The hotdog man. But most importantly is my good friend Pozsich. Seriously, all of these authors are good enough to inspire, check them out. Oh, and if you intend to review, please be gentle~**

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Ruby was nervous, to say the least. In fact, she didn't know what she was feeling. The reason for this you may ask?

Jaune.

The goofball wasn't acting any differently, in fact, he was probably feeling nervous because of the way Ruby had been acting.

The moment Jaune enters a room, Ruby would do everything in her power to get the hell out of it. At one point she even went so far as to jump out of a window. Two stories up.

Ruby had no idea why, but whenever Jaune was around, she just got this odd fluttery feeling in her stomach. After asking Yang about it, Ruby learnt that what she was experiencing was called a crush, and that it would pass soon enough.

As it turns out, Yang didn't seem to understand how anyone could like that 'lady killer'. She clearly doesn't see how amazing Jaune really is.

He's the kindest, most selfless person Ruby had ever met. And if Yang's problem lies with his skills, well he's leagues ahead of himself when he first came to Beacon. Pyrrha's training was doing wonders. But that was another problem in and of itself.

Pyrrha.

One of the **two** female members of Team JNPR. She clearly likes him, and Jaune being the oblivious fool that he is has no idea.

That gave Ruby a chance to confess. She was currently alone in the library, it's the only quiet place in Beacon for her to think. All she had to do was leave and find Jaune when he was by himself.

"Ruby?"

Instantly arousing from her stupor, Ruby turned around to find Jaune staring at her, concern written on his face. 'Was he searching for me? What do I say?' Ruby's thoughts were interrupted however as Jaune spoke up. "Are… are you alright?... Did I do something wrong? You seem to be avoiding me."

Guilt filling her every being, simply from the look on his face Ruby replied. "NO! No I'm not avoiding you, you didn't do anything wrong." "But… are you okay?" Hesitating for an instant before replying, Ruby decided to continue lying.

"Yeah I-I'm fine Jaune." A quick shift of the eyes to the side. "You don't have to worry so much." Jaune walked closer to Ruby and replied with an arm around her shoulder. "Ruby… whether I want to or not I will always care about you, you're like, my first real friend that I've ever had. Every one of our other friends would say the same, because we all know you'd treat us like this as well. Listen, I may not be the sharpest sword in the armoury. But it's obvious that you're avoiding me. I don't know if I did anything wrong, but I do know that I didn't do something right."

Wrapping his other arm around her in a tight comforting hug, Jaune finished his little speech. "If there is anything that I can do to make it up to you, please tell me."

As Ruby stared into his pleading eyes she came to a realization. 'That's why I feel this way about him. If something is wrong with someone, even a total stranger, Jaune will do everything he can to make things better. I can't see how Pyrrha and I are the only ones who feel this way about him.'

"Thank you Jaune, but I really am fine. I feel much better now." Hugging him back, Ruby reassured her words with a quick kiss on the cheek.

She couldn't help but to giggle at the expression on Jaunes face. Skipping away happily, she turned and winked at him. 'Yang does this to guys a lot, and they seem to like it.'

Seeing Jaunes confused expression turn to that of a content smile, Ruby turned and continued to skip all the way throughout the halls of Beacon and back to her room. After changing into her pyjamas and getting ready for bed, one thought plagued her mind as she jumped into the amalgamation of sheets she calls a bunk. 'Something tells me this isn't just a small crush on Jaune.'

Then again… only time will tell.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 – Breaking the Ice

**Alright, now I understand that people like long chapters, I can't help but to agree. Sadly, this isn't a long chapter, funnily enough, it's the exact same length as the last one. 700 words par the A/N. However, I promise you that the next chapter will be longer, and they will only continue to do so.**

**Enjoy.**

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'What could that adolescent, small minded, cape toting fool see in that degenerate?!' Weiss thought for the umpteenth time that night. 'How could **anyone** like that… that womanizer?!'

Her thoughts continued in this fashion as she paced around her room. Weiss had finished her training early, so she had the entire room to herself. Everyone already knew that Ruby has a huge crush on Jaune, she was just trying to figure out why.

Before she could continue her 'brainstorming' though, a knock sounded at the door. "Hello? Weiss, are you in there?"

Jaune.

"What do you want Goofball?" She asked, using his signature nickname. "Ah, Snow Angel, there you are! I've been looking for you." Weiss could only massage the bridge of her nose at the sound of Jaunes nickname for **her**. "Jaune, what did I tell you about calling me that?" Her patience was already starting to waver. "But it suits you so well, there's no way I could call you anything else!"

Her patience was gone.

"If you call me that one more time I swear to all that is holy I will destroy this door and kill you." Silence followed, and nothing more. Believing her threat to have prevailed, Weiss smiled to herself and went to open the door, that is, until she heard a whisper through it.

"_Snow Angel~"_

Weiss always keeps true to her word. Jaune learnt this after the door between them disappeared and Myrtenaster was trained on his skull while he lied in a pool of his own blood. That last part wasn't Weiss' doing though.

She found this odd.

"What happened, Jaune, why are you covered in blood?!" Weiss surprised even herself with the tone of her voice. Was she… worried? "Oh you know, just a small training accident. I tripped and fell on my sword." Laughing weakly to himself, Jaune attempted to stand, but struggled on his own.

Weiss (for some reason) helped him onto his feet and brought him into her room. "Jaune, you're not **that** stupid, what really happened?" Jaune gasped heavily as he sat on Weiss' bed, then thought for a moment before replying.

"Team CRDL."

Jaune pointed to the large gash on the side of his head. "They're getting better." Many questions were swimming through Weiss' head at this point, but one stuck out in particular.

"Why would you come looking for me if you were in this condition, Jaune?" The question seemed to amuse him as he chuckled softly, which he immediately regretted.

Clenching his still bleeding side as Weiss applied first-aid, Jaune replied weakly, almost lucid. "While I was lying on the floor after CRDL's onslaught, I saw a beautiful angel dressed in white. Her fair skin was as light as snow, but her aura hid a sorrow that I couldn't even begin to fathom. She forced a brave-face but her eyes knew loneliness well." By this point, Jaunes wounds had been closed and was in more control over what he was saying. He continued.

"Weiss, why do you distance yourself from your friends? What happened in your childhood that did this to you? Why turn away help when all we do is care?" Jaune realised he had done something stupid when he saw the look on Weiss' face. "You don't have to answer that, it must be hard to remember."

Standing up and cupping his hands around her cheeks Jaune continued. "Don't be afraid to get help from others Weiss, I learned that the hard way."

Jaune leant down and gave Weiss a quick kiss on her forehead, he then left for his own room across the hall. But before he went, Jaune still had one more thing to say. "Even if you don't realize it Weiss, there will always be people there for you."

It wasn't for another ten minutes that Weiss realized what had happened. 'So that's how someone can fall for him…' She decided to get an early night before her team came back, to help clear her head.

As Weiss went to sleep, her mind clouded with questions, she didn't notice the golden eyes watching her from shadows.

And these eyes were ready for prey.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 – Apathetic Empathy

'If I didn't know better…' started Blake as she watched him from above. 'I'd say he is purposely getting them to fall for him.' She continued as he passed the same tree for the forty second time.

'Like he's some evil mastermind bent on making himself some sort of harem with Team RWBY.' However, that thought was washed away as he passed the same tree for the forty third time.

'Luckily I do know better. He's just some loveable Goofball that knows exactly what to say at exactly the right time.' Blake was currently watching Jaune from the top branch of a tall tree. After whatever happened in Forever Fall, Cardin's personality changed abruptly to the joy of everyone. This was short-lived however as he went back to his bullying ways not too long after. This included sending Jaune off on another adventure in his Rocker(Rocket Locker), so he was now lost in the outskirts of the Emerald Forest.

Due to the forests size, one would think it easy to get lost in the woods. However, only a special kind of idiot could do so.

The forest has many different high grounds. While it would be a challenge to search for something _in _the forest. To get out, one would need only walk up a steady hill and look over the trees to Beacon Cliffs, the giant wall of a cliff face that harbors Beacon Academy. Jaunes destination.

Jaune however, was walking in circles, never going up hill, and simply walking passed the same tree she perched herself in for the forty fourth damn time.

What made it worse was that Blake was only _observing _as he passed the same tree for the forty fifth time.

She couldn't interact in any way without revealing herself to him, and having him find her perched in a tree staring directly at him might strain their relationship a little.

Therefore she could only watch as he circled the same tree for the forty sixth time.

She had been doing this for four hours.

Four hours of her life wasted as she watched the biggest fool she ever met pass the same tree for the forty seventh time

She was following Jaune to find out why both Ruby _and _Weiss had both fallen for him. Blake saw Jaune kiss Weiss on the forehead before leaving for his own room, although she did not see how he managed to get the 'Snow Angel' to allow it.

With so much time having passed with no progress, Blake was planning to leave very soon.

The guilt wouldn't let her though.

If she left, she would be leaving Jaune alone to fend for himself. If she helped him, he would both feel emasculated _and _know that she had been following him. His scroll broke upon impact to the ground, and she didn't bring hers. Too much of a distraction.

So that is why she sat there watching as he passed the same tree for the forty eighth time.

On the forty ninth however, he stopped and circled around the tree, slowly. As if he knew that by doing so he had just hit fifty. He seemed to show it as he simply sat down on the ground and sighed.

"I can't believe how pathetic I am. Just look at me, stuck in the forests right next to Beacon and I can't even find my way out."

'This is new.'

"I'm supposed to be the 'leader of a team'? Good joke. I'm the worst Huntsman at Beacon. I don't know what I was thinking when I snuck in here."

Blake crept closer so that she could hear Jaune's self-depreciating monologue better.

"Stupid ancestors. Why did they have to be such great heroes? Why do I have to live up to their names? I'm probably just gonna die at Beacon anyway." Tears started to flow as he continued.

"I bet the rest of my team would be better off."

Blake could only stare in bewilderment. 'So this is what makes him the person that he is. His strive to live up to the expectations of those who know his heritage. He knows how good he is, and knows it isn't enough.'

"If I just died here… would anyone even care? Would anyone even notice?"

Blake's resolve became unmatched upon hearing that and finally decided to intervene. Jumping down and landing on her feet with cat like reflexes, Blake startled Jaune way more than she expected to.

"IIIEEEEE!" Jaune screamed at a pitch no man should be capable of reaching. "Blake! You scared me half to death." Once he realized the state he was in, Jaune immediately wiped his tears and put on a fake smile. "What brings you to this neck of the woods?"

She could still see them though, the tears that threatened to fall from his eyes. She did not try to stop her own though. With tears cascading down her face Blake quickly closed the gap between them and enveloped Jaune into a comforting hug.

"You're not a burden, Jaune. You're not weak. We all care about you and things will start looking up eventually."

Jaune, having recovered from the shock of seeing Blake show any actual emotion had now wrapped his arms around her and stopped holding back his own tears as well. "But what if they don't Blake? What if I die before I become strong, or my friends turn and leave me behind? I don't know if I could handle that."

With Jaunes sobs now audible, Blake could only tighten her grip around him. "Then you'll just have to trust in your friends that we won't ever leave you behind. **We'll** make you stronger Jaune, just like you make **us** stronger. Know this Jaune, nothing will change unless you make it. Never forget that there are people who care about you, you said so yourself. Both Your own team and team RWBY care about you greatly, and trust me, I know all of this better than anyone."

They stayed in each others embrace for what felt like eternity, but was really only five minutes. Long enough for Jaunes tears to leave his system, when they finally did he brought Blake to arms length and gave her a compassionate smile. "You're a lot more caring than I had you pegged for Blake." He brought her in for one last hug, tighter this time and continued speaking. "You have no idea how much this means to me, thank you."

That was all it took for Blake to karate chop the back of his neck, rendering him unconscious and carry him back to Beacon. She wasn't used to so many emotions all at once and needed to stop him before he caused her any more confusion. The elated smile on her face didn't leave for quite a while though.

'He's going to get himself killed if he doesn't stop wearing his heart on his sleave so much.'

Blake's expression eventually returned to its stoic state as she re-entered Beacons grounds. The confused stares may have made her look annoyed on the outside, but they did not for one second change how she felt within.

'Jaune may not know it, but he's about to get a lot less time to mope around on his own.

And if he's going to be upset, he'll do so with his friends.'

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**I'm still not 100% on Blake's speach, it feels a little forced, like she's saying things meant for different situations just to cheer Jaune up. Your thoughts...?**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 – The Heart of a Dragon

**Sorry about this super long A/N. I got a review pretty much the second the last chapter got out stating that Blake's personality wasn't done too well. I'm trying harder with her, but in all honesty I find it hard to write for such an apathetic acting character, but still give her emotional moments. I promise, I'll try harder with her. I've also gotten some complaints about how abruptly Weiss and Blake fell for Jaune, as well as his own change in character. I'm not saying this to defend my terrible writing, I'd just like to get my own opinion on their feelings across. I like to think that Jaune has mass self-depreciation, he couldn't care less about himself, but would do anything for his friends, even if he was bleeding out, he'd still try to cheer them up. But he'd also grow more confident and wise from Pyrrha's training, he doesn't know whether to be proud of himself, or continue to hate himself like he's grown accustomed to doing. He's also a strategist, he can easily notice slight changes in personality and character, but he's socially inept and doesn't understand what the changes mean. I now understand that to have more than one girl like him, he'd need to act differently depending on the situation, I'll try to add more fluency. For Weiss, it's obvious even to others that she wouldn't have had a great childhood, she wouldn't be used to compassion or worry from others, something Jaune showed pretty abruptly in her chapter, therefore she had an abrupt change of disposition on him. With Blake though, I don't believe I ever said she fell for him there, she cares for him like a little brother now. She's not head-over-heels in love with him.  
**

**Yet...**

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Yang had known all her life that this day would come, that her darling little sister would eventually fall for someone. She tried to tell herself that it was nothing more than a crush, that Ruby would be over it the next day and finally go back to normal.

That day never came. In fact, not only did it not come, Ruby Weiss **and **Blake were all acting strangely around the knight. Yang, with her vast experience in social standings, knew right off the bat that the girls had all fallen for none other than the biggest Goofball in all of Vale, and perhaps Remnant.

Jaune.

That is why, at the current moment in one of the empty classrooms that she invited him into late at night, Yang was glaring red, flaring eyes at said Goofball. "Now Yang," He began slowly. "I know that I may have been a little rough when I patted you on the head earlier today and that I _might _have ruffled your hair doing so, but I swear it was an accident."

'So oblivious.'

"You think THAT'S why I'm mad?!" Yang screamed as she picked him up by the neck and held him against a wall. "Jaune, do you understand the term 'tough love'?"

"Uhh, it means that even though you're m-making someone sad, you're doing it because you c-care, right?" He asked with a strained, nervous voice. "That's right, and although Ruby will be upset by what I'm gonna do to you, it's for her own good."

Jaune stopped struggling against her at the mention of the brawlers sister. "Wait, this has to do with Ruby? Is she ok?" He paused for a moment. "Did I do something, is that why you're here?!"

His tone of voice caught Yang off guard. 'He's that worried? Hmm…'

"Please Yang, you've gotta let me down, If I did something to hurt Ruby then I need to make it right." Yang didn't know what to think when she heard this and her eyes proved that, switching from red to lilac with her conflicting emotions. "Please, Yang I care about Ruby more than you know."

She could only sigh in defeat at this and gently put Jaune down, releasing his throat. Yang realized that Jaune clearly had quite the silver tongue if he managed to defuse her when she was like that. No one could calm her down when her eyes turned red, but somehow Yang couldn't help but ignore the sincerity in his voice.

"Alright Yang, you know I'm not the most purified Dust in the quarry, so I'm gonna need your help on this, what's wrong with Ruby?" Jaune's serious tone sent shivers down Yang's spine, she never heard him like this.

It was kinda hot.

She had to be careful here though, Yang couldn't spill the beans about Ruby's crush or she'd be crushed, pun intended, she had to beat around the bush as much as possible. "Ruby's been acting differently…" She started, but was already interrupted by a sigh from Jaune. "Yeah I've noticed that too, she was avoiding me a lot earlier, but after I talked to her about it she started acting even weirder. She isn't avoiding me anymore, but now she seems to… care more? I can't really describe it but whenever I need something she's always there to get it. She's starting to act a lot like Pyrrha now that I think about it." He sighed again. "Weiss and Blake have been acting different lately too. Don't get me wrong they're still cold and distant, but now they actually seem to pay attention when I speak, something they never did before. I just can't figure out why."

Yang was very surprised by his perception, but knew he would lack the most important part in the end. She decided it couldn't hurt to figure out why he would do so. "Maybe it's because they've got the hots for ya."

Jaune could only stare in complete shock… before bursting out laughing. Thirty seconds later his laughed turned into small giggles and eventually faded. "Yeah, right. Like three of the five hottest girls that I've ever met would ever like me as more than a friend. Good one Yang but I'm being serious here, what could've caused this?"

Jaunes reaction was expected but there was one thing he said that really caught Yang's interest. "Three of the five hottest girls you've ever met…?" He could see where this was going and inwardly cursed himself for his slip up, relentless teasing was sure to follow.

"Yeah, what about it…?" He asked nervously. Yang simply grinned. "Who are the five hottest girls you've ever met Jaune?"

Sighing again, Jaune decided it would only hurt more if he lied. His tone changed to that of great respect, he thinks very highly of his friends after all. "There's no real order to them, they each have their own traits that make them beautiful." Yang had already hit record on her scroll. "There's Pyrrha, her virtuous green eyes are only matched by her vibrant red hair. Have you ever seen her with her hair down? It's as if you're staring at a blazing flame frozen in time."

"Then there's Blake, as if her golden eyes weren't alluring enough she just had to add a bow to the mix. Not to mention she actually has cat ears and those are freakin' adorable." As Jaune spoke Yang was counting with her fingers whenever he talked about a new girl, but her focus was wavering when she heard the words he'd describe them with. 'Is Jaune being… poetic?'

"Next I'd say is Weiss, boy is she a number, you know that I've already tried hitting on her, that is before I realized she was way out of my league. Her hair is white, WHITE, it's like small crystals of snow decided that the girl wasn't already good enough and needed to add to her gracefulness by flowing into her hair. And her EYES, oh the most stunning shade of blue I've ever seen."

"Alright, now don't slaughter me for this, but Ruby is next." Yang's eye twitched. "To say that she's cute and innocent would be an understatement, whenever I see her all I want to do is wrap her into my arms and tell her everything will be ok. If her black and red hair wasn't such a unique feature, she has silver eyes, I swear I could just get lost in those things."

"And finally… there's you, Yang. You're uhh, figure certainly isn't something to laugh at and you take a lot of care for your hair but none of that matters. In all honesty, even the stuff I said about the others doesn't matter all that much. All that I really care about… is the girls personality. Blake acts all apathetic and distant, but she really cares a lot more than people think. Weiss may act cold and say things she really doesn't mean, but you can't blame her for that. She still wants what's best for other people and that's simply astounding from whatever happened in her past."

"Ruby is innocent, and she has such a simplistic view of the world and how things work, all she wants is for everyone to have a happy ending. Reminds me of Pyrrha, the amount of concern that girl has shown to me since we first met never ceases to amaze me, and she still asks for nothing in return."

"And last, but definitely not least, there's your compassion Yang, you may act like a party girl but deep inside you're really a loving, caring older sister, you'd do anything for Ruby in a heart beat, no matter what it meant for you. I just love that about you."

Words could not do the feeling that Yang currently had any justice. Shocked, surprised, appalled… happy? She had no idea, but there was still one more question that Yang had for the Knight before returning to the task at hand.

But she wasn't sure she would like the answer.

"Jaune, do you like any of us as more than friends…?" She was tentative about it, but she had to know. Jaune's reply came with a smile. "If any of you were to ask me out I'd say yes. I doubt I'll ever find a girl near as perfect as you all are."

Yang felt something warm in her chest at that, she wasn't sure what it was, but it was gone as soon as it came, she wanted to feel it again though. "Say, what were we talking about again?" Yang gave Jaune a confused look at his question. "What do you mean? We were talking about… something." "Yeah see, I can't remember it either." Yang saw no point in hanging around any longer. "I'm sure it wasn't that important if we forgot it so easily." Jaune hesitated at this but agreed anyway. "Oh well. Good night Yang."

She couldn't help herself. Just one more. "Hold on a sec Jaune, can I ask you one more thing?" He smiled. "You just did, but sure go ahead." A few moments passed while Yang thought of the best question to ask for the most rewarding answer.

"Besides their personality, what's the hottest thing about a girl to you?" She finally got back her trademark grin when she saw him blush. He turned around and opened the door to leave, but right before he left, he answered her question as quietly as possible.

"Their smile."

The door clicked shut and Yang was left alone, she could only think of the things that he admitted to her at that point. Then she remembered that her scroll was on record that whole time and she got everything he said on it.

With a true, genuine smile, Yang left the classroom and headed back to her own room with one thought in her head.

'If Jaune saw me now, would he be turned on?'

Realizing where her train of thought was headed after that she immediately derailed it. But another thought popped up soon after, of her and Jaune together, alone in a classroom at night.

With vastly different happenings than this one.

'God damn it, I am **not **falling for him too."

At least not yet...

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**Heh, I guess making him poetic changed him up completely again, huh? Wow, he really is inconsistent. Sorry.  
**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5 – Speak and Listen

**Alright, I'm going to try and stick with the Jaune from chapter one, I'd like to think that the way he acted in the other chapters were all just heat of the moment deals. Jaune's going to stay self-depreicative, strategic and nervous. I'm sure the ladies will just eat him up.**

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To say that Pyrrha was jealous would be completely and utterly wrong.

She was just worried. _Totally _not jealous.

It had been a few weeks since Jaune and Ruby's little 'moment' that Pyrrha may or may not have seen. Rumours were circling that Jaune was alone in team RWBY's dorm with Weiss during classes. Not to mention she saw Blake enter Beacon grounds with the blonde leader over her shoulder, and a massive grin on her face.

And now there are people saying that Jaune left one of the classrooms late at night with Yang following soon after.

Troublesome thoughts were raging in Pyrrha's mind as she walked the corridors, it was the weekend and the rest of her team were off practicing, so she decided to pace the grounds and think over the past few weeks events.

'What is he doing with team RWBY? Do they **all **like him? Does he like any of them back? There's a chance that he… No! I can't think that way. It's obvious that he likes m- WHAT AM I THINKING?! There's no way Jaune likes me… does he?'

As she was wracking her head around any and all possibilities, Pyrrha accidentally bumped into someone, knocking them both to the floor.

"Oh I'm so sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going and-" she couldn't help but to trail off when she realized **who **it was she bumped into, said person then replied.

"Not a problem at all miss, it was **I **who should have been paying more attention." Fuchsia eyes looked back at her with recognition flooding through them.

The two were teammates after all.

"Pyrrha, I didn't realize it was you, you're not usually so distracted, something on your mind?" Pyrrha wondered whether she should tell him or not, Ren interrupted her before she could decide though.

"Or perhaps it's some**one **on your mind?" He asked with a raised eyebrow, his lips never once leaving their flat state. "A certain local 'Goofball' that more and more people are fawning over each day." "I don't feel that way about Jaune!"

Inwardly deadpanning at her outburst, Pyrrha waited for the repercussions. "Pyrrha, I never said a word about Jaune, nor did I mention the possibility of you having feelings for him. Or… might I be mistaken?"

As Pyrrha sighed at the fact she was such a nervous wreck, she finally admitted it. "Alright Ren, you win. I like Jaune… as more than a friend." To tell the truth, it actually felt nice to get it off her chest. Like a weight had been lifted. "Ugh, I don't know what to do here Ren, I need your help."

A ghost of a smile flashed across his face for a moment, but as soon as it was there, it left. "As you may know, Jaune actually **is **becoming quite the 'Lady Killer'. If you just outright ask him out, he'll definitely accept, but you'll start a war against the other girls."

Pyrrha shuddered at the thought.

"If you intend to make him yours, you'll need to use strategy. Woo him so that he asks you out, before any of the other girls manage to distract him. It'll hurt the other girls, and I know that won't be easy for you to do, but I also know that seeing him with another will crush you. Jaune will be able to console the others if he doesn't choose them, you should know better than anyone how good he is at defusing a bad situation."

As Pyrrha took a thoughtful look on her face, Ren turned to leave. "You'll have to fight Pyrrha, only then will he be yours."

Walking away with a swagger to his step, Ren left. 'He hides it well, but I still can't believe how melodramatic he really is. Nora must've corrupted him at some point.' He soon turned a corner at the end of the hall, leaving Pyrrha to digest this new information.

'So I need to get him to fall for me huh? Can I really do that? Would he find me attractive? Hmm, no this isn't the time to be doubting yourself. You've never lost a fight in your life Pyrrha Nikos, you're not going to lose this one.'

As she looked at the clock, Pyrrha realized that time flew by, and she had only five minutes to reach the roof for her semi-daily training with Jaune. She immediately started down the hall to the roof upon noticing this. 'I'd feel terrible breaking the girls hearts, but I'll lose their friendship completely if I ask him outright. Still, I won't let anyone take Jaune away from me.'

Pyrrha opened the door to the roof to find Jaune standing around awkwardly, looking nervous. When he spotted her though, he immediately perked up. "Pyrrha. I was afraid you weren't going to come, what took you so long?" She was slightly confused by this as she checked her scroll for the time. "Jaune, it's only seven o'clock, I'm right on time." Jaune looked positively flabbergasted by this. "What do you mean?! You always get here at six thirty, half an hour before me." He seemed to mumble the next part. "I even came at that time too, so that we could start early."

Pyrrha's heart broke at the his tone of voice. "I'm sorry Jaune, I didn't even know you knew that, how about we stay an extra half hour to make up for it?" Jaune contemplated this for a moment, but it didn't take long for him to decide that it would be the best course of action. He needed all the training he could get. "Alright, let's get started then." Pyrrha couldn't help but smile at his drive. Both friends drew their weapons and prepared.

They lunged.

Pyrrha's thoughts soon returned to their original musings. 'It must be tough for Ruby'

Ducking under a horizontal swing from Crocea Mors, Pyrrha counter attacked with a vertical slice.

'She's so young I bet she's never felt this way about anyone before. She mustn't understand how she even feels.'

As she bashed with Akoúo̱ against Jaunes chest plate, he staggered back and prepared for a jump attack.

'It wouldn't be easy for Weiss either.'

After dodging the aerial assault, Pyrrha transformed Miló into it's javelin form and adjusted her footwork to adapt to the change in weapon.

'Being the heiress to such a large corporation would put a lot of expectations on her, she probably had a strained relationship with her family. Then Jaune stumbles in and completely rearranges her emotions.'

Jaune switched up his attack pattern to deal with the spear instead of the sword. He then pulled his shield up to defend against the attacks he knew would come.

'Blake would be in a bit of a rough spot as well.'

Pyrrha then gave an onslaught of jabs and slices, doing little to no damage while he had his shield raised. She held her own up as Jaune went on the assault.

'We all know that she's a Faunus, but she still won't give us details about her past. Whatever she did before coming to Beacon must be hard to remember. To truly get close to Jaune she'd need to open up, something I doubt she's ready to do.'

With many grunts and battle cry's Jaune went into a flurry of hacks and slashes, never once raising his shield throughout the ordeal.

'I don't think I can comprehend what Yang would be going through right now.'

Finally managing to stop Jaunes barrage, Pyrrha knocked him back as the effects of his combo took hold.

'She's fallen for the same guy as her younger sister.'

Switching Miló to its rifle form, Pyrrha took aim.

'If Yang wants to be happy, she steals Ruby's crush from her.'

She held her breath.

'If she acts the caring big sister as usual and let's Ruby be happy with Jaune, she loses the man she cares about.'

And fired.

Jaune quickly activated his aura and deflected the bullet with his shield. He then ran as fast as he could towards her and lunged.

'I can't think of the tension between that team at the moment, there's no way they can work well together if this keeps up... All the more reason for me to have him. I've been through my fair share of hardship in life, Jaune's the first person to treat me with so much kindness.

I love him

And I'll be damned if I lose him to anyone.'

As Pyrrha began to take note of her surroundings, she realized that she now lay on the floor. "Pyrrha, are you alright?!" He asked/yelled as he checked her for any wounds. "W-what happened back there?" Extending his hand and helping her up, he gave her a look of fret.

"Is something on your mind? You could have easily dodged that." Said Jaune as his eyes slowly moved towards her right shoulder. Following his gaze, Pyrrha noticed the rather large cut slowly bleeding down her arm.

She gripped it tightly. "You're just getting better Jaune, You're improving." The pride that showed in his expression immediately diminished when he soon noticed how profusely Pyrrha was bleeding.

"L-let's get you back to the dorm, there's a first-aid kit there, I'll patch you up." Pyrrha smiled at the thought. 'He's always so considerate.'

As they silently walked down the stairs into the dorm rooms, the only thing on Pyrrha's mind was trying to figure out what Jaune was thinking. 'OH GOD! OH GOD! OH GOD! Pyrrha's hurt! **I **hurt her. She's gonna die. Oh what do I do ? What do I do? What do I do?!'

She smiled. 'Whatever it is, I'm sure it's wise and thoughtful.'

As they entered the dorm room, the duo failed to notice the absence of their other teammates. Jaune immediately dived for the draw next to his bed. 'Gotta find first-aid, gotta find first-aid, gotta find-' "First-aid! Alright Pyrrha," He started as he sat down on his bed. "I'm going to need you to sit here." He said as he patted the spot next to him.

"It's not that bad Jaune, you don't need to worry so mu-" "Pyrrha, you won't be helping anyone by acting tough like that. Besides, you're my partner and my best friend. Of course I'm going to worry."

She sat down immediately and Jaune began cleaning the cut before it managed to get infected. Something he said had caught Pyrrha's attention though. "Wait, I'm your best friend? Me?"

Jaune could only stare, astonished and slightly hurt by her response. "Are you kidding me? Of course you're my best friend! Pyrrha, even after realizing how weak I really was, and all of that stupid macho stuff I said those weeks ago, you not only stayed by my side. You tried your hardest to make me a better Huntsman. I've never met anyone like you in my life."

His words left more of an impact than the cut on her arm.

'How does he manage to say something like that with such a serious look on his face?' Only one thought stayed in her head for the rest of the night, hours after he had healed her and gone to sleep.

'I am truly in love with Jaune Arc.'

* * *

**Of course he's still going to be overly friendly to his friends though. **


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6 – Scarlet Blues

**Hello everyone. This chapter has been written a little differently than the last. My good friend Pozsich (Awesome author, check him out) did a major deal of editing to this chapter. It has helped me understand how much more work I need to put into these. Thank him if the chapter seems a little more well written.**

* * *

Cardin Winchester is not a kind person. Let me just get that out of the way.

Don't get me wrong, he's not evil, there's no such thing. I'm sure he's had plenty of hardship throughout his life that has melded him into the person he is today. However, that does not justify what he is currently doing.

Being a racist jerk.

'What race?' I hear you ask?

Faunus.

Jaune was sick and tired of it. He had sat by and watched, doing nothing, last time this happened. But he'd be damned if it ever happened again. Taking slow, purposeful, strides towards team CRDL's table, Jaune spoke up. "Hey Cardin, what do you think you're doing?" At the sound of his name Cardin looked up, and his cocky smirk turned into a twisted grin when he saw who uttered it. He let go of the rabbit eared girl immediately.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Mr. Hero. What are you trying to do Jaune, save the damsel in distress?"

Jaunes reply came with a glare. "What are you, Cardin?"

His question seemed to amuse the brute. "I'm a Hunter, something you could never be."

Jaunes expression never faltered. "Right, and do you know what Huntsman and Huntresses do, Cardin? They protect people. They protect those who can't defend themselves and are the world's only Peace Keepers, something **you **could never be."

Cardin's grin seemed to double in size when he heard that, and he simply burst out laughing. "Something **I **could never be? Protect people? Do you know how stupid you sound right now? First off, I'm way tougher than you are Jauney-boy, there's no way I couldn't keep the peace if you could. And secondly," Cardin started as he gestured to the small girl, "this thing isn't a person, it's a **freak, **the Faunus don't deserve the Hunters' protection Jaune, they deserve to be **hunted**."

Jaune's piercing glare soon turned to a look he never thought he'd express to someone else. Pity. "Cardin, Faunus are people too, all it takes is one glance at them and you can tell. If you stopped wasting your time with pointing out all the minor differences, you might start noticing the similarities. Oh, and that word you used, 'hero', I don't think it means what you think it means. A hero isn't someone that strives to be stronger, no matter the cost, that's the makings of a villain. A hero is someone who strives to **serve** others, no matter the cost."

A few moments passed before Jaune realized that everyone in the cafeteria was staring at him rather intently. The way his own group of friends' gazes pierced his soul sent shivers down his spine. His awkwardness resurfaced as a result. "S-so you better remember that next time you decide t-to bully some…one." He barely managed to stutter out his sentence before Cardin's teammates took their leader's attention and left. Cardin wasn't done though, and he made sure that Jaune remembered that. He shoved the knight to the ground before storming off. Jaune's only problem with it was that Cardin seemed duller in some way, the push just had no fanfare.

Jaune decided that the floor wasn't that comfy though and started to get up, but before he did a hand entered his vision. It seemed rather shaky. "N-need a hand?" Jaune heard a girl ask as he looked up to see the rabbit eared girl from before.

'I thought she would've sneaked away during my little speech, I only said that stuff to stall them after all.' His response was, as always, awkward. "Uhh… sure, th-thanks." The girl easily hefted Jaune to his feet. 'Someone's stronger than they look!'

"My name's Velvet, Velvet Scarlatina. W-what's yours?" Jaune noticed that Velvet was just as awkward as he was, and this relieved him greatly.

"My name is Jaune Arc, short, sweet, rolls off the tongue."

"I love it!" She exclaimed.

'They always do…'

Despite his relief that Velvet seemed like a kind fellow to be around, he couldn't help but notice that people were still staring. "S-say, do you wanna' come and meet my friends? I'm sure they'd love you."

His request made Velvet feel simply elated, but her mood diminished when a thought crossed her mind. "Will they really be nice though?" She asked, pointing towards her ears. "Or are you the only one like that?"

Jaune couldn't help but laugh at the concept. "Trust me Velvet, they're even more accepting than I am" 'They accepted me after all' Jaune added in his head. "You'll be welcomed in a heart beat. Let's go."

As he saw his team leader half escort half drag the new-comer over to their table, Ren couldn't help but notice the looks on his friends' faces, par Nora of course. 'Are they… upset? Jaune just showed incredible courage and wisdom while stopping a bully, and saving a stranger no less. They should be ecstatic right now. After all, they do all like him. Are they just **that **jealous that he paid more attention to a stranger than them? This could be bad. Even Pyrrha seems out of it.'

His thoughts were interrupted by his team leader finally reaching their table. "Hey guys, this is Velvet… something, ok it starts with an 'S' right?" Velvet giggled at his short focus while the rest of the group just deadpanned.

"It's Scarlatina, Jaune. Scar-la-tina."

Jaune smiled with a snap of his fingers. "Right! Guy's this is Velvet Scarlatina, Velvet, these are my friends; Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang, they're apart of team RWBY, which Ruby leads. The other three are Nora, Ren and my partner Pyrrha. We're all part of the same team together." Smiling to himself for his flawless introduction Jaune sat down with his friends, gesturing for Velvet to follow suit.

Ren was the first to point out the fact they had all seemed to be avoiding. "Jaune, what you did back there was very brave, I can't believe you would stand up to Cardin like that."

Jaune smiled sheepishly. "To tell the truth, I wouldn't have done anything if he were bullying me like that, I just couldn't stand seeing someone else in that position. My instincts just took over."

The beat of silence that followed made Jaune feel **very **uncomfortable. Luckily, Blake broke it. "It's pleasing to see that you care so much for the Faunus, Jaune. I knew you were compassionate about helping people, but this certainly takes the cake."

Jaune seemed mildly offended by her statement. "Blake, my mind was made up a long time ago, I'd protect everyone. **Everyone.** That includes the Faunus. I may be a big goofball, but I still know the difference between what's right and wrong. And racism is wrong."

Weiss decided to speak up now. "But surely you can't protect **everyone, **one man can't stand before an army and hope to win. Not to mention people like Cardin, you **shouldn****'****t **protect people like him."

Jaune got a faraway look in his eyes when he heard this. "Even people like Cardin deserve a second chance."

Ruby spoke next. "But he's a bad guy Jaune, he should be thrown away for life for what he does." Blake couldn't help but smile at Ruby's naivety. "There's no such thing as pure evil Ruby, I agree with Jaune, people should be given a second chance."

Weiss scoffed. "Of course **you****'****d **say that." There was another beat of silence as Velvet realized that now might not have been the best time to join Jaune's little group. She was already contemplating sneaking away to avoid the conflict.

"_**Excuse me?**_" Blake asked incredulously. "What do you mean by **that?!**" Her voice grew louder with each word.

Weiss grinned. "Isn't it obvious? You were a bad guy once, you may not be now, but you still committed crimes. And why is it that you're agreeing with Jaune so much recently? Is there something going on between you two?!" Weiss' voice also grew a few decibels.

"HAH! I could ask you the same thing 'Snow Angel'! I've noticed that you've lightened up around him, you even let him call you that ridiculous nickname!"

"It is **not** ridiculous!" Jaune interrupted, looking a bit offended.

"SHUT UP JAUNE!" Weiss and Blake both screamed in unison.

"I don't know what you're implying Blake," Weiss huffed, "I've never been anything but kind to Jaune." She was trying quite hard to feign ignorance, though it was fairly transparent that she wasn't being honest.

Even Velvet could tell she was lying, and she knew the girl for all of about three minutes. Blake's only response was her usual 'Are You Kidding Me?' look.

By this point, Yang had had enough of Weiss' yelling. Her red eyes only proved this. "Weiss, would you kindly stop harassing my partner?! You're acting like a child, and you know it."

Ruby intervened this time. "Yang, lay off! Weiss, just calm down alright? Take it easy."

Yang was now furious. "WHAT?! YOU'RE TAKING **HER **SIDE?!"

Weiss was too. "DON'T TREAT ME LIKE A CHILD RUBY! I'M PERFECTLY CALM!"

"_**WOULD EVERYONE JUST STOP FIGHTING?!"**_

None of team RWBY were expecting to get interrupted during their dispute.

And they certainly weren't expecting it to come from Velvet. "Please… just stop yelling, I can't take it anymore." The rabbit looked over the team of Huntresses with sorrow. "Before I came here, Jaune told me that you were all the most accepting, tolerant people he ever met. I'm starting to think he lied. If you can't even tolerate your own teammates, then how can you expect to become full-fledged Huntresses?" Her words struck true as looks of guilt enveloped the teams features.

"S-sorry." mumbled Ruby. The rest of her team had similar apologies, each stating that they overreacted.

As the four girls apologized to each other and their new Faunus friend, Jaune quietly whispered thanks to Velvet. "You're a life-saver Velv, I'm not used to people yelling that much so I completely froze up there. Thank you."

With peace now returning to the table, Velvet smiled towards her savior. "Anything to protect others, right?" Jaunes smile lit up Velvets mood for the rest of the day when she saw it.

The rest of the group was still very uneasy though. 'I knew it, tensions are rising between them,' Ren thought. 'I hope they sort this out quickly, who knows what could happen between them if this goes on too long.' Pyrrha continued to say silent, she had never seen a domestic dispute before and it shocked her how angry people could get, especially when they were so close to each other.

Nora was on the verge of tears and clung desperately to Ren's arm, who silently pat her head to calm her down, still deep in thought. Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang all had the same thought. 'Why did that get so intense?' They were all interrupted when the bell signalling the end of lunch rang. They silently left for their classrooms, still deep in thought.

Jaune incidentally had his next class together with Velvet, so he decided to sit with her through it so they could talk. It wasn't as if it would do any harm; no one could pay attention to Oobleck's history lectures, even if they wanted to. The professor just went too quickly. Fortunately this made it easy for the pair to sit and talk together, with Pyrrha and Blake sitting just behind them, their thoughts still on lunch. Cardin was also in the class, but he sat in the back corner, as far away from Jaune as was possible.

"Does that happen often?" Velvet asked, afraid of what the answer might be.

"No, never. I don't understand why, but they've all been acting strangely for the past few weeks, I still can't figure it out."

Velvet decided to express her opinion. "Perhaps they have feelings for you." She wasn't expecting a chuckle to be his first reaction to that.

"Nice try, but Yang already made that joke. No, there's no way they could like me."

Velvet looked honestly offended by this, though he couldn't peg as to why. "What makes you say that, Jaune?"

Jaune chuckled again, harder this time. "Are you kidding me? I'm weak, I'm stupid, I don't have good looks or any **real **courage. And worst of all, I still can't fight, even after months of training, everyone here is ahead of me by leaps-and-bounds."

Velvet felt hurt by Jaune's self-depreciative speech. She thought the exact opposite of everything he just said. 'How could he say that? He's really handsome, and he showed amazing bravery earlier today. Based on what I can see in his workbook there, he's way smarter than he lets on, and I can definitely see some muscles on him, his uniform's way too tight to conceal them. I honestly can't believe he doesn't have a girlfriend… wait. He's clearly a catch, the only problems being his obliviousness and self-doubt. Maybe I can help him with his 'not-having-a-girlfriend' problem…'

Her musings were interrupted by Jaune. "Anyway, enough joking around, I swear that they don't act like that, that's actually the first time I've ever seen them fight. I'm sure they'll be back to normal eventually though. I promise."

Velvet smiled at Jaune. 'He's so caring.' The day soon came to an end. As everyone went to bed that night, they all had mixed emotions.

Pyrrha eventually recovered from the initial shock of the fight and slept restlessly, worried about her friends across the hall, and the possible competition that the new girl posed to Jaune. Ren slept restlessly as well, also worried about team RWBY. There was another reason though. Nora couldn't sleep alone that night, so, to add to Ren's impossible sleeping conditions, Nora cuddled up to him in his bed. Velvet couldn't rest, remembering the fight that had transpired between the supposed best friends. But she soon found waking dreams when a certain oblivious blonde entered her mind. Said blonde slept well rested that night, dreaming of days he was certain he would see in the future, with all his friends happy together once again.

The entirety of team RWBY didn't sleep for hours after they got ready for bed though, all too busy trying to calm their nerves, and worried about what the future may hold. If something as small as someone new entering their group caused that much of a brawl, what would happen if any of them confessed to Jaune?

They were afraid to find out..


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7 – Exciting Relaxation

Ren's usual calm disposition had changed recently. His life motto is: 'I don't do anything I don't have to do. If I have to do it, I'll do it quickly.' He was afraid that he did in fact have to do something about his friends problem. But it would be a slow process, no matter the direction he took.

Ren had intended to speed up the process by giving Pyrrha a little push in the right direction, but now he's afraid that he just threw her into a fight she'd rather not be in. Luckily, his best friend was always looking out for him, to an extent that's borderline creepy. Nora had obviously noticed Ren's change in mood, most would say he was acting the same, but for Nora the change was drastic.

She didn't know what the problem was, but she'd do everything in her power to cheer her lov- Best Friend… up. "Nora, where are we going, and why am I carrying this basket?" Ren asked, with no hint of confusion whatsoever, as if he were simply stating a fact. "Oh Renny, we're going to have a picnic in the Emerald Forest of course! We can eat your meals, and play tag, and hunt some monsters. Ooh, it'll be so much fun!"

Ren couldn't help but offer a rare smile at his lov- Best Friend's… antics. As they sat down under a tree with a fairly large amount of foot prints around it, Ren decided to ask Nora's point of view on their groups current situation. "Say Nora, have you noticed that team RWBY has been acting differently around Jaune lately?" Nora's beaming smile found itself getting smaller at the mention of their friends dillema. "Yeah, I dunno why though. They should be happy, like us!" Ren smirked at this. "All of team RWBY, even Pyrrha, have feelings for Jaune. I'm rather surprised Nora, I wasn't expecting you to be so oblivious about other people's feelings." Nora's eye twitched.

Ren learned something that day, something he never thought possible. Nora can feel rage. "How can _I _be so oblivious?! What about you?! I've been in love with you for years?! **HOW HAVE YOU NEVER NOTICED?!**" Nora would soon remember the look on Ren's face to be absolutely priceless, he was shocked beyond words. "B-because, I've been in love with **you** for years, Nora. I've just never known that you liked me back… th-this can't be real, I must be dreaming." Nora had an ecstatic smile on her face, one could almost call it euphoric. "Even if you were dreaming Ren, you'd still wake up with me in your bed." She stated with a wink as she slowly crept closer to her… her love. "Uhh, Nora? You're getting a little close there." Her reply shut him up instantly. Nora pressed her lips against Ren's, butterflies erupted in her stomach while she closed her eyes and deepened the kiss.

Ren's eyes snapped open the moment their lips touched, a million thoughts raged through his head in the second it took for him to start kissing back. Neither of the two had ever done this before, both scaring away any possible suitors from their best friend and therefore never having any deep relationships with others. Their first kiss was with each other and they couldn't have been happier. As they parted, the two looked into each other's eyes and smiled. "I love you Nora." Ren said, finally admitting his seven year-long secret. "I know!" Nora shouted happily. To the naked eye, one would think that Ren's mood hadn't changed from her reply. But Nora knew every nuance of Ren and could tell that his emotions flared for half an instant. She of course knew the reason why.

"I love you too, Ren." She admitted, for once acting lax and calm, instead of her usual bubbly self. The two newly found lovers shared an embrace that was only broken the moment Nora decided that they hadn't kissed enough yet. Ren realized that he wouldn't be able to focus too much attention on RWBY and Jaunes relationship from now on. He'd have his own on his mind.

* * *

The couple returned to Beacon grounds **many **hours later to the confused looks of their friends, Pyrrha had asked where they were the whole time while Yang just gave them a knowing smirk. She knew, Ren had no idea how or why. But Yang already knew.

He figured it would be best to just admit it then and there, instead of dragging out an unnecessary secret. "Nora and I were on a date." Ren stated as he looked at his friends unsurprised expressions. "You go on dates almost every day though, what did you do this time?" Asked Ruby, confused by Ren's obvious answer to Pyrrha's question. "It wasn't a date…" He said as his tone somehow became **more** serious. "It was a date-date."

The collective gasp that followed could shatter an eardrum. "You mean you two are finally going out now?!" Pyrrha shouted with glee. "I can't believe it took you so long!" Nora perked up at this. "I know right?! We've been friends for sooooo long, I kept giving him so many hints but he'd never act on them. We've been sleeping in the same bed for years!" Weiss was confused by this. "Wait, but we've only been going to Beacon for a few months now…" "EXACTLY!" Exclaimed Nora, not even bothering to hide her disappointment. "At least now we can do stuff while we're there…"

"NONE OF THAT IN THE DORM ROOM!" Pyrrha screamed, a huge red blush on her face. "Awww, but we'd let you and Jaune do it in the room when you two finally get toghrrphrr." Ren had clasped his hand around Nora's mouth in an attempt to keep the fragile team RWBY from another screaming match. "I think you could use something better than that to cover her mouth with Ren." Yang said with a wink and no shame. 'You know what, scream all you want Yang.'

He let go of Nora's mouth only for his to be covered with it instead, Nora pulled her lips away with a wide grin on her face. "That's what Yang meant, right Ren?" He quickly glanced to the side. "Uhh, sure. Yeah, that's what she meant." Yang was about to correct him when her own mouth was covered by the hands of her partner. "I think that's enough for now Yang, they only just started going out, no need to ruin their innocence so soon." Blake said with slight chagrin.

Jaune simply laughed. "I'm really happy for you guys, I hope this works out for you in the end." He said with a thumbs up. "Anyway, I think I'm gonna hit the hay now, it's getting kind of late and I want to get in some extra practise in the morning. 'Night." He muttered, while returning to his dorm room for bed. "Good night, Jaune." Everyone replied as his form crept around the corner.

Ren and Nora soon followed, not missing the change in atmosphere when their leader left. As they also disappeared, Pyrrha spoke up. "Alright you guys, it's been a nice day and I'd rather not ruin it. But it's time we talk about Jaune, we all know already." Yang and Blake gained looks of understanding from her words, if Weiss knew what she meant, she didn't act like it, and Ruby truly didn't know what she meant. "What are you talking about Pyrrha? Why would we talk about Jaune?"

Yang sighed at this, if anyone was going to tell her, it should be her sister. "Ruby, we all know that you have feelings for him." Ruby looked terrified at this. "Weiss does too, I don't know about Blake and **I **certainly care about him. Liking him might be a bit much but… I'm not sure. It's pretty obvious that Pyrrha likes him as well." Blake nodded at this. "We need to talk this through, we can't just keep having awkward small talk and weird looks all the time. We're a team and we need to act like it."

"I should probably enter that conversation too." A voice perked up from behind the group, turning around they found it belonging to Velvet. "After all, I believe I have feelings for him too." Pyrrha 'hummed' in agreement. "It's settled then, tomorrow morning at seven o'clock, we all meet up in the training grounds and talk, not **scream.** Talk, like adults should." Everyone nodded in agreement.

* * *

Jaune felt torn. He was happy for his friends, even **he **could tell that they were in love with each other. But it just made him realize that there aren't any girls he could be with. He wouldn't dare ask any of his friends out, in fear of ruining their friendship, and he knew it'd be a terrible idea anyway. He didn't know any other girls besides them though.

Jaune slowly drifted off to sleep as he contemplated speed dating, or perhaps online dating. Or maybe Ren had a sister… His thoughts turned to clouds as he dreamt peacefully. Completely unaware of the girls that had all fallen for him.

Jaune woke up to find that he was the only one left in his room. He found this very odd, seeing as he set his alarm for six thirty, way earlier than any of they would wake up on a Sunday. He figured that Nora would want to spend more time together with Ren, so she (somehow) woke him up and left before anyone else. He couldn't figure out why Pyrrha wasn't there though. She always sleeps in on Sundays.

Figuring it to be none of his business, Jaune got ready, went to the cafeteria for some breakfast and returned to his dorm, to see if anyone on team RWBY wanted to train in sparring. As he knocked on the door, silence followed and nothing more. The first thing he noticed was that the room was left unlocked, creaking it open no more than a centimetre, Jaune looked inside.

It was empty.

'Alright, this is just getting weird. Where is everyone? It's Sunday for God's sake.' Jaune decided that his training could wait, it was only seven o'clock, he still had time. He searched around campus for any and all of his friends, from the deserted classrooms to the spire that gives Beacon its namesake. By the time he checked everywhere, it was already seven thirty on his watch. His Scroll broke in the Emerald Forest and it takes a while for those to be re-administered. Cost him half a fortune too.

Suspecting that everyone had all left for town and simply left Jaune to sleep, he decided that he'd wasted enough of his training time searching for people he wouldn't be able to find. If he did this every morning he'd never improve. Jogging to the Training Facility, Jaune entered to find it half empty, the only people in there seemed to be other Hunters like him, eager to improve upon their skills. Something bothered him though, everyone seemed very nervous. And the amount of people in the main hallway confused him as well. 'Why aren't they in any of the training rooms?'

Jaune walked forward, only to bump into someone walking parallel to him. Upon closer inspection, the person was the owner of the school, Professor Ozpin. "Ah, I'm s-sorry sir, I should've been paying more attention." He stated, clearly uncomfortable with the man he knew could throw him out on a moment's notice. The two never really interact. "Not at all Mr Arc, my mind was elsewhere just now." He noticed Jaune fidgeting under his gaze. "Is something the matter?" He asked as cool and uninterested as ever. Reminds Jaune of Ren.

"N-no, not at all sir. Uhh, why was your mind um, 'elsewhere' earlier?" Jaune felt very little when the Professor's expression change to that of minor annoyance. "It seems that yours and Miss Rose's teams are fighting in the arena." He felt even smaller when he didn't understand the problem. "Isn't that what they're supposed to do sir? It is a combat arena after all." Ozpin smiled at Jaunes obliviousness. "That is true, Mr Arc, but I'm afraid that this fight will not hone their combat prowess in the slightest, only hinder it in the field.

Jaune paled when he finally understood what the headmaster had meant. He immediately ran past the Professor and directly towards the first room he saw, he could already hear it. "Oh, God no…" Bursting open the doors, Jaune finally came across what he was dreading the most.

"HOW CAN YOU EVEN SAY THAT?! YOU'RE SO YOUNG, YOU PROBABLY DON'T EVEN UNDERSTAND HOW YOU FEEL! BESIDES, YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT HIM!"

It looks like his training would have to wait after all…


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8 – The Jaune Arc

"IT'S ONLY TWO YEARS, THAT'S NOT THAT BIG A DIFFERENCE! AND YOU'RE RIGHT, I DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW I'M FEELING! ALL THAT I KNOW IS THAT I WANT TO BE WITH HIM! I MIGHT NOT KNOW MUCH ABOUT HIM, BUT I KNOW THAT I LOV-"

"**WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!" **Jaune shouted, attempting to get everyone's attention. The scene he walked in on might've been comical if all of his friends weren't blindly pissed at each other.

Ren was side by side with Nora, who were both latched onto Pyrrha's arms, holding her back and keeping her from slaughtering the rest of the group. Yang, Blake and Weiss were all keeping Ruby from attacking their friends as well. Jaune could also see Velvet in the corner, grasping her ears in her hands.

Everybody stopped when they saw the blonde leader standing there, waiting for an answer. "Well?" He asked again, growing impatient. The two redheads of the group calmed down at the sight of him, but were still fairly peeved with each other. When she noticed his arrival, Velvet dove and latched onto Jaunes arm, afraid from all of the conflict that had come.

Blake spoke up. "I don't know why these two started yelling like that, we were **trying **to keep things from escalating, but it seems tensions arose anyway. I'm sorry Jaune." Ruby and Pyrrha both felt guilty at this, so they decided to apologise as well. "Yeah, I don't even remember what started this, we were just talking about our problem when all of a sudden, we were screaming." Pyrrha nodded. "I agree, I'm not sure what came over me back there. I apologise Jaune."

Looking over his friends, Jaune forgave them right away, but he was conflicted, if this kept up, the entire group could fall apart. He would die before he let that happen. So he decided the best way to deal with the problem would be to tackle it at the roots.

"Look, I don't know what's causing this, and frankly, I'm not sure that I want to. But this can't keep up, whatever is causing you to act like this needs to be dealt with. I don't care how hard it may be, tell me what the problem is. Now." Pyrrha always loved when he went into his strategist mode, but his tone of voice when talking this time was very knew to her.

It was kind of hot.

Everybody grew very uneasy at the thought of telling Jaune the problem, he could even feel Velvet tense up on his arm. 'Whatever this is, it must be big…' Weiss spoke up. "Jaune… do you have any feelings for us? As more than friends?" Jaune blinked in confusion. "Oh, not this again. I already went through it with Yang." Everyone glared at the blonde brawler. "If any girl, **any **girl asked me out, I'd say yes. You all included." The infatuated of the group could only stare in shock at what the boy had said.

"He's not lying." Yang spoke, pulling her Scroll out of her pocket. "He told me all of this before." Blake nodded. "He honestly doesn't realize what he is." Jaune could only sigh. "Why does everyone always say that? I know what I… Yang? What are you doing with your Scroll?" Yang's only reply was a small smile and the press of a button.

"-ake them beautiful." Everyone recognised the voice that came from the Scroll to be Jaune's. The Huntsman in question paled when he recognised what had been recorded. "There's Pyrrha, her virtuous green eyes are only matched by her vibrant red hair." Yang noticed that Pyrrha's 'vibrant red hair' was now only matched by her 'vibrant red blush'. "Have you ever seen her with her hair down? It's as if you're staring at a waterfall of fire." The entire arena stood frozen in astonishment while the voice stopped to think. No one could believe what they were hearing.

"Then there's Blake," The Faunus' bow twitched at the mention of her name. "as if her golden eyes weren't alluring enough she just had to add a bow to the mix. Not to mention she actually has cat ears and those are freakin' adorable." Blake felt something stir inside her at the thought of Jaune scratching her ears.

Yang looked over everyone in the room, she knew exactly what they were thinking, it was the same when she first heard it, 'That's right, Jaune's being poetic.' She could barely stifle her laugh when she looked at the faces of her shocked friends. Jaune's mouth was practically hitting the floor.

"Next I'd say is Weiss," The heiress was already blushing. "boy is she a number, you know that I've already tried hitting on her, that is before I realized she was way out of my league. Her hair is white, WHITE, it's like small crystals of snow decided that the girl wasn't already good enough and needed to add to her gracefulness by flowing into her hair. And her EYES, oh the most stunning shade of blue I've ever seen."

Said eyes tried to make themselves as small as possible so that they wouldn't see the object of their affection staring at them with his own ocean of blue.

"Alright, now don't slaughter me for this, but Ruby is next." Yang's eye twitched again, but Ruby gasped in shock. "To say that she's cute and innocent would be an understatement, whenever I see her all I want to do is wrap her into my arms and tell her everything will be ok." Ruby was now trying to hide under her hood, they can't see her if she can't see them. "If her black and red hair wasn't such a unique feature, she has silver eyes, I swear I could just get lost in those things." Ren couldn't believe his ears, he had no idea that Jaune could speak in such a way. Nora was glaring at Ren, jealous that he never said things like that to her.

"And finally… there's you, Yang." Everyone turned to her again. "You're uhh, figure certainly isn't something to laugh at and you take a lot of care for your hair but none of that matters." She couldn't help but chuckle at the phrase she had replayed so many times when alone. "In all honesty, even the stuff I said about the others doesn't matter all that much."

The girls embarrassed mood instantly turned to sorrow. "All that I really care about… is the girls personality." And immediately shot back to embarrassed again. "Blake acts all apathetic and distant, but she really cares a lot more than people think." Blake felt a thousand emotions a second again, a lot like the way she did back in the Emerald Forest.

"Weiss may act cold and say things she really doesn't mean, but you can't blame her for that. She still wants what's best for other people and that's simply astounding from whatever happened in her past." Again, the heiress froze in place, unable to comprehend the words that the blonde had spoken.

"Ruby is innocent, and she has such a simplistic view of the world and how things work, all she wants is for everyone to have a happy ending." Jaune looked towards Ruby with a meek smile, but only got a blush and eyes that dare not see in return.

"Reminds me of Pyrrha, the amount of concern that girl has shown to me since we first met never ceases to amaze me, and she still asks for nothing in return." Another smile, towards his partner this time, but again, no reply. Jaune was starting to get worried. 'This is embarrassing, sure. But what's with their reactions? I thought they were going to tease me. Not ignore me.'

"And last, but definitely not least, there's your compassion Yang," The female blonde of the group looked towards Jaune with a loving smile. It caused Jaune to look away with a red face this time. "you may act like a party girl but deep inside you're really a loving, caring older sister, you'd do anything for Ruby in a heart beat, no matter what it meant for you. I just love that about you."

Everyone listened intently as the recording of Yang asked the same question Weiss had earlier, with the same answer as expected. Though everyone's blush deepened as they heard him add: "I doubt I'll ever find a girl near as perfect as you all are."

The conversation continued onward until the recording was close to an end. "Besides their personality, what's the hottest thing about a girl to you?" Everyone held their breath as they waited for a reply, sans Nora and Ren who had left earlier, recovered from the shock and knowing full well that the situation would be handled by their leader.

The final words in the recording were muffled though, as if the person speaking was too far away from the microphone. They all looked to Jaune expectantly.

"…T-their s-s-smile." He said, with even less confidence in his words than last time.

The entire room said no word, moved no muscle and breathed no breath. As if they were afraid if they made a single sound, the world would shatter. Velvet had attempted to be the first to speak, but Yang interrupted her, knowing what would be said. "He doesn't mention you because we never met you when I recorded this. Although you are on the list now, I've seen the way he looks at you when you…" She smirked at Jaune, looking him directly in the eye. "smile."

"I-I don't know w-what you're t-talking about Y-Yang." He said, failing miserably to feign ignorance. "I don't look at her when she smiles! Even if she does radiate warmth when she looks happy." Velvet was blushing profusely now. "Come on, I've hit record, why don't you give her a taste of your poetry eh?"

One could roast marshmallows off of Jaune's face with the amount of heat it was giving off. He failed to notice that each time one of the girls was mentioned, they slowly edged closer to him.

"Velvet is… the c-cutest girl that I've ever seen, even surpassing Ruby. Her ears are just so adorable I want to s-squeeze them." His eyes closed as he started to think deeper. "Her stony brown eyes show that she isn't to be messed with, I know she could drop me in under ten seconds flat. She's a lot wiser than you'd think as well, she's actually been helping me in some of my tests. I probably would've failed that last assignment had she not been tutoring me. I owe her a lot…" His eyes opened and he looked down at the blushing girl clinging to his arm. "And I can't thank you enough."

Everyone had practically crowded around him at this point, as Jaune edged his head down, closer to Velvet's, she also started to raise to her tippy toes. The two of them gradually got closer and closer, their lips only centimetres apart when-

*WHAM*

Jaune immediately jerked up when he felt binding pain on his back. "Not bad Jaune, not bad, I think that she liked it." Yang said, her eyes red with rage. "OW! Yang did you have to hit me so hard?!" Yang's face then took on a look of innocence. "Oh, I'm sorry Jaune. Did I pat your back to hard there? My mistake."

Ruby had been contemplating revealing Jaune their secret, her thoughts crumbled during the recording, but she began anew when it ended. She decided it was now or never. "Listen Jaune, the reason we've been acting so weird is because we all li-" Her voice could not be heard over the loud clearing of a throat. "-you". Everyone turned their heads to the spectator's stands to see Professor Ozpin standing there, one hand covering his mouth and the other holding a cup of coffee.

"I wish to speak to Mr Arc, may I borrow him?" The girls all glared at the professor, annoyed that he was taking Jaune. Ruby even more so, for she had been interrupted. Jaune looked to all of his friends with a look that asked 'is it ok?'. Everyone grudgingly accepted with a nod. "Go on ahead Jaune." Pyrrha said. "You don't need our permission, we'll catch up later."

Jaune nodded as he headed off towards the Headmaster, he felt somewhat empty now that he wasn't with his friends though. He never felt like this before. Shaking off the feeling, Jaune continued up to his Professor, and walked with him in stride. "Do you know why I called for you Mr Arc?"

"No, I can't say that I do sir." Ozpin smiled. "I've noticed that your friends have been acting rather odd over the past few weeks, yes?" Jaune nodded. "Yeah, I've noticed it too sir. I had been thinking of letting them sort it out themselves, but it's been escalating and I don't know what I can do to stop it." Ozpin took a sip of his ever present mug of coffee as the two left the training hall and out into Beacon grounds.

"Jaune." Ozpin said, for once using his first name. "I may have an inkling as to what the problem could be, but it isn't my place to say. All that I can tell you is this: Do whatever it takes to keep your friends happy. There are going to be hard times ahead, and I can guarantee that, unless you play your cards right, and say the correct things at the right times… your friends are going to suffer." Jaune froze and his breathing halted at the thought.

"What can I do to stop that?" He asked, terrified of the answer. "Again, that is not for me to say. You must figure it out yourself." He glanced back towards the training facility. "It seems that is all that we have time for, your friends are coming. I won't keep you." Jaune turned his head in the direction of his friends, slowly making their way toward him. When he looked back, Ozpin was gone. His words never left Jaune's mind though. 'Do whatever it takes to keep your friends happy…'

Jaune took the man's words to heart. 'I swear that I'll keep them happy.' He thought. 'I'll give everything I have to make them safe.'

* * *

It had been three days since the fight that took place in the training hall, and Jaune had been catering to his friends every need. Opening doors for them, carrying their books, doing anything they asked. He was trying his hardest to keep them happy.

This did not go unnoticed by Blake, after classes had ended, she found him in his dorm room alone studying for the upcoming test. "Jaune." She called out. He was in front of her in the blink of an eye. "What's up Blake? Is there something you need help with?" His readiness to help took Blake off guard, she wasn't expecting him to be that obedient. "Yes actually, there is. Can you see me in the library tonight, alone?" She was trying to be careful about it, she didn't want him to be scared away. "Yeah sure, what time.?"

She was taken aback again when he accepted with no questions as to why he would be leaving after hours. "Right, how about… eleven o'clock? After our teams have gone to sleep." Jaune nodded in agreement. "Alright, duly noted. Was there anything else?" He was starting to freak her out. "No that was all, I'll see you tonight." "See you tonight." He closed the door behind her and Blake continued across the hall into her room. She was hesitant about entering, afraid that by merely walking in there, another fight would break out.

It wouldn't be the first time.

Sighing, she opened the door to find the room empty. There was no mess either so she was sure they didn't storm off after another screaming match. She changed into a fresh set of clothes and grabbed a book from the shelf; she wouldn't be speaking to Jaune for a few hours. She wanted the time to go by as fast as possible.

Half an hour and thirty two chapters later she began to backtrack through her book, her eyes reading the words but not digesting them. Her mind was drifting towards tonight.

She wouldn't end up with Jaune.

She was certain of this, not because she didn't think she was good enough or anything, but because she knew that if she were to start dating him, her team would crumble. And her team would always come before her own happiness.

The problem was with what she was going to say. Blake didn't know if she should beat around the bush or just outright tell him that there are six girls in love with him. Blake cared for Jaune, if it was in a romantic way or not, she would never find out. She knew that this battle wasn't hers, or Yang's Weiss' or Ruby's. If anyone was going to end up with Jaune, it was going to either be Pyrrha or Velvet. It didn't matter to her in the end.

Blake realized that thinking about her problem rather than ignoring it seemed to speed up time better than reading as the rest of her team silently entered and got ready for bed, none of them saying a word to each other.

Blake pretended to go to sleep also, but kept one eye open waiting for eleven o'clock to come. 'That's it. I'm just going to tell him, I'll tell him about the way we feel and all that's been happening behind our door. He has a right to know.'

* * *

Velvet is not an eavesdropper. She would agree with this fact and deny any claims otherwise for the rest of her life. But happening across two people and slowing your pace so that you had enough time to hear their entire conversation with your enhanced hearing did **not **count as eavesdropping.

Velvet knew nothing as to why, but she knew that Blake had made plans to speak with Jaune at eleven at night, and it seemed important. Jaune had protected her when no one else would, and she developed feelings for him instantly. So sneaking into the library at night so she could eavesdrop on, or 'happen across' their conversation seemed perfectly within her moral bearing.

She waited from nine until eleven for the two to come by. Jaune came in half an hour early and merely waited for Blake. So at least she had something to look at while she waited the last half hour.

It only took twenty minutes for Blake to arrive though, she came early as well it seems. "Good, you're already here." Jaune smiled. "I wouldn't want to keep you waiting, Blake." She cringed at his tone, he seemed to be acting friendlier. 'He must know that my problem is big, I did drag him here in the middle of the night after all.' "Alright Jaune I'm just going to get straight to the point, is that alright?" He nodded.

"Jaune. Ruby, Weiss, Yang, Pyrrha, Velvet and I all have feelings for you. They are deeper than friendship." Jaune replied with a good natured chuckle. "Very funny Blake, but you wouldn't bring me out here just to tell a joke. What's really the problem?" Blake expected that response, but it still infuriated her.

"That is exactly the problem, Jaune! I don't know how you can't realize this but we all really do-" "Stop it." He ordered, interrupting her. Blake was astonished to see that his usual happy smile was now replaced with a deep frown. "W-what…?" She asked softly. "I said stop it. I don't want to hear this." He looked down in sorrow. "Not again."

Blake had no idea what to say. 'He knows? How long has he known? WHY HASN'T HE SAID ANYTHING?!' "Jaune, I don't understand what you mean. What's going on?" Jaune looked Blake directly in the eye and responded bitterly. "Blake, I've known about everyone's feelings for months now. I was ecstatic when I first found out, but those feelings left when I realized I could never act on them." Blake didn't dare utter a word.

"If I asked someone out, at least five other people would be crushed. I couldn't do that to my friends, Blake. I've been trying to ignore it whenever someone brings it up, I always laugh it off and say that I'm not good enough, hoping that they'll realize that and look for someone else. But that isn't working anymore, everyone just keeps fighting, I can't sleep at night when I hear you guy's across the hall. That's the only reason I agreed to come here tonight. I need your help Blake." He stated slowly.

"I need you to help me break things off with team RWBY."

No words could do the amount of shock that Blake felt any justice, she had thought up many scenarios before coming here. But they all dwarfed in size compared to what actually transpired. Despite all of this, their goals intertwined. Blake just needed to know why. "What about Pyrrha and Velvet?" Jaune sighed. "I'd rather just choose now and be done with it, but I honestly don't know who I have feelings for. The reason I want things to go back to normal with you guys is because you're on the same team together. If I ask one of you out, the team will be done. They'll all be crushed if I just ask out Velvet or Pyrrha as well." He stopped to think for a moment.

"But if I break it off with them before choosing a girl, they'll have time to recover, and the sight of me with someone else won't be so hard to bear." He finished describing his plan and looked at Blake hopefully, desperate that she would accept. "Blake, I'm still bad when it comes to other people. It was obvious even to me that the others liked me, but I still have no idea how I can handle this, _I need your help_."

Blake was not very versed when it came to being social as well, but if it had to do with her team, she'd do anything. "Alright Jaune, leave it to me. I'll talk to them, we've brought this up before in one of our fights. I know that they'll understand if I tell them. But there's no way I'm helping you with your Pyrrha and Velvet problem." Jaune shook his head, remembering the words of a wise man. "I wouldn't want you to, that's something I need to figure out… myself"

Blake smiled to the blonde goofball and silently left for her room, her mind buzzing with ways to break the news, and her eyes filling with tears she didn't know she was holding back. She let out a few inaudible sobs as she opened the door to her room and made her way to her bed. Blake cried herself to sleep that night.

* * *

Velvet silently left the library after Blake did. Her own mind swelling with ideas to woo the knight now that most of the competition had been eliminated. She knew that she should have felt bad about team RWBY, but as she returned to her own room and rested in bed that night. Velvet realized that even though he had six girls in love with him. Jaune would let them all go if it meant they'd be happy.

And she truly loved him for it.

* * *

Jaune felt **very **conflicted as he went to bed that night. He knew that he had just caused a lot of emotional turmoil, and there was far more to come. He wondered what it would have been like if he had asked out any of the girls he turned down today.

He could envision himself holding Ruby as she lay on top of him, reading her a bed time story about hero's and monsters. As she slowly fell asleep in his arms, he too would soon succumb to his dreams as he gave her a gentle kiss.

Weiss would finally tell him about her past, letting him inside the walls she built around herself so many years ago. He could see her crying into his arms as he whispered sweet nothings into her ear, telling her that he would protect her from anything and everything that dare hurt her.

Yang would be the living embodiment of a party. Jaune couldn't stop himself from blushing at the thought of himself and Yang laying in a bed, she'd probably want to do it the moment they got together. He wouldn't dare abuse her like that, but it was a fun thought to play around with.

He felt terrible about Blake though, she said that she would tell her teammates herself. But **he **was the one who told her, as much as it would hurt to be told by someone else, at least the rest of her team had each other to console them. Blake had just been told straight by the person she likes that he couldn't be with her. And now she has to go to sleep without waking them as well, something tells me she's trying not to make any noise right now.

Jaune nearly cried at the thought.

If the two of them ever got together; Jaune would eradicate discrimination against the Faunus, making it so that all of the years she spent protesting in the past were not in vain. He would spend every waking moment with her and stay by her side until she was content with life.

None of these dreams would ever come true though. Jaune made sure of that. Instead, he could see all of them standing together, being proclaimed the greatest team to ever exist. The four of them were smiling proudly and would wish for no other person to be with them on their team. A single tear slid down his cheek when he thought of them being with another man, but he managed to calm down at the thought of them staying together.

'Hmm… staying **together…**' Jaune thought of nothing else as he succumbed to his fatigue, it was one thirty in the morning and he had classes in a few hours. Not to mention his early morning training, he wouldn't miss that for the world.

Even though it would be hard for him to keep them that way, Jaune needed to upset his friends to help them be truly happy. He would do anything they ask for as long as he knows them, for he was sure that he could never make it up to them for the pain that he caused tonight.

But he'd be damned if he didn't try.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9 – The Velveteen Knight

**I just wanted to thank everybody who has Favorited, followed, or reviewed this story. The numbers keep rising every day and it always drives me to write more. But there was something else I wanted to mention... This is not a harem story. I understand your confusion, there are six girls in love with Jaune after all, how could it not be? But if anyone has noticed, I'm trying to take a more realistic view to the genre, Jaune will _not _end up having six girls as his girlfriend. Such a thing would never happen on Earth, or Remnant. He has six girls in love with him, and he's trying his hardest to make them all happy. That is what this story is about, nothing more. Which means no 'harem ending' I'm afraid.**

* * *

Jaune was in pain.

That was all that registered in Velvet's mind as she dragged him across the courtyards of Beacon. He was hurt and she was the only one who could help him.

It's the middle of the night with dark clouds looming overhead, rain was pelting against Velvet's face and she knew that it would only hinder her progress. Jaune could get hypothermia at this rate, he was already bleeding out.

'How did this happen?' Wondered Velvet as she continued the long haul.

* * *

It had been three weeks since Jaune told Blake the truth in the library, and he was still suffering the consequences. Weiss pretended that she didn't care at all, but everyone could see through her. Some nights, Jaune could still hear sobs across the hall.

Ruby had cried and cried into his arms the next morning, he felt terrible for it emotionally, he broke a young girls heart after all. He soon felt terrible for it physically though, when Yang brought out the gauntlets. He still has the bruises.

But despite all of the pain, he felt hollow at the thought of Blake. She still hasn't said a single word to him since that night, and it hurt more than any of Yang's fists of fury.

Pyrrha was upset by the notion of her friends being hurt, but he could tell that she was secretly happy that she was so much closer to having him. Velvet was the same, but she seemed more secretive about it, as if she knew something that Pyrrha didn't.

Jaune shrugged off the thought as he continued through the locker rooms. '636, 636, 636… it's been months now, how come I still can't find my own damn locker? I swear this place was designed by some puzzle enthusiast.' Jaune soon came accross his locker and opened it up to see that his new Scroll finally came.

"YES! I've been waiting for this thing forever. Alright, let's see…" He opened it up by the sides to see the holographic interface display. As he looked into the corner of the screen, something caught his eye. The message button was flashing. "I have a message? But I only just got this thing." He pressed the button to find one new message.

It was from Velvet.

'Velvet? Why would she be messaging me? She shouldn't even know that I have a Scroll yet.' He pressed the display button and read the message aloud.

"Dear Jaune. Please meet me at the entrance to the Emerald Forest, there's something important that I have to tell you. Velvet."

'This is really weird.' Jaune thought as he let his strategic mind take over. 'Velvet has never sent a message on her Scroll before, she always uses written ones, and she always uses her full name as well, never just 'Velvet'. Something's up.' The message was sent with her Scroll's I.D. though, so Jaune decided to see what she needed.

As he left Beacon grounds Jaune gained a feeling of dread. He didn't know why, but he needed to hurry.

When he finally reached Beacon Cliffs, Jaune looked out over the edge. He considered jumping, but decided it would be best if he just took the stairs to the side. Jumping was only for initiation. The sight that reached him when he reached the bottom infuriated him beyond belief.

Team CRDL with an unconscious Velvet.

When Cardin noticed Jaune standing there, he grew a manic grin and laughed. Jaune didn't see his smile, nor did he hear the laugh. All that he saw was red, and all he heard was white noise as his vision soon faded to black.

* * *

Blake was upset, she knew that she was being unfair for acting this way, but she simply couldn't stand to be around him anymore.

He broke her heart.

He hurt the rest of her team as well, sure, but they at least managed to talk to him. She couldn't, she wouldn't. And she didn't know what to do. It had been three weeks since that fateful night… And she hasn't spoken a word to him since.

Despite the sorrow she felt, she knew that by doing so she was hurting Jaune more than anyone. So she decided that today would be the day she would break the silent treatment.

All she needed to do was find the idiot. Under normal circumstances, he would be at the training grounds. This was not the case. So she decided to look for him in his dorm, things between her team had finally gone back to normal, and they could stand each other's presence again. She was grateful to the knight for this, but it still wasn't easy speaking to him.

Blake waited patiently as she knocked on the door, she was getting very nervous. Her nerves washed away when Pyrrha was the one to answer. "Hey Pyrrha, can I speak with Jaune?" She asked politely. Pyrrha responded in turn. "I'm sorry Blake, he isn't here right now, he should be at the training facility."

Blake was starting to get confused. "But I've already checked there, I thought he would be here…" Pyrrha shook her head, beginning to get a little worried. "I haven't seen him for hours, you know how he get's when he's there. He'll rip the muscles in his arms and keep on going."

Blake nodded. "I'm well-aware. The point is that if he isn't there, where could he be?" Pyrrha reached for her Scroll. "I'm not sure, I'll message the others and see if they've seen him… oh hey, it says here that Jaune got his Scroll today, I can just message him." Blake smiled, she'd been there when he lost his Scroll in the first place, she knew how much he wanted a new one.

After typing up a message, Pyrrha pressed the 'send' button, but nothing happened. "Scroll unable to receive messages at this current time? What...?" A terrifying thought dawned on them at that moment. They called for their teams immediately.

* * *

When Jaune's vision finally returned to him, Jaune saw that CRDL was nowhere in sight, Velvet was lying where he last saw her, and Jaune himself was covered in cuts and bruises. There was already a small pool of blood below him.

He attempted to stand but soon found that trying that was a terrible idea, hissing in pain Jaune looked down to see both of his legs bending at an odd angle. 'Must've broken my legs, I'm sure they'll heal.'

Jaune realized that his legs mightn't be the only things broken, so he gave himself a once over. His arms seemed fine, but his chest was burning with a pain very similar to that of his legs. 'Broken rib or two as well, huh?'

They were the only serious injuries that he had, but they would definitely incapacitate him, there was no way he was making it up those stairs. He then remembered the Scroll that he just got, he could call for help. As he searched himself for the device, he came up empty handed. He then noticed a small glint in the distance. Straining his eyes to see what it may be, Jaune paled in horror.

His Scroll was lying on the grass, shattered. "NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

His screams met deaf ears as he soon found darkness enveloping him again, he could do nothing but embrace it.

* * *

Velvet awoke in a daze.

The first thing she noticed was the sharp pain in the back of her head, the next was the amount of blood that covered the clearing, and the third was what seemed to be the source of the blood.

"Jaune!" She screamed getting to her feet quickly and rushing to his side. "Jaune, are you alright? Come on Jaune, get up!" Velvet found her pleas were futile when Jaune didn't get up, he didn't even stir.

Velvet decided that screaming at the unconscious person wouldn't help anyone, so she took in her surroundings. 'This looks like the Emerald Forest… it is! Beacon Cliff is right in front of us.' Surveying the clearing, Velvet noticed Crocea Mors lying on the ground in the distance. 'He must've gotten into a fight. Damn, why'd I leave my carrying case back in my dorm?'

Her eyes finally rested on Jaune, he would've looked cute lying there like that had he not been on the verge of death. The first thing she noticed was his legs, they didn't look too comfortable. Velvet didn't have any medical training, so she couldn't do much to help him, but an idea soon struck her.

'My Scroll!' She thought as she reached into her pocket… 'Isn't here. Damnit!' As Velvet took in her surroundings and all that she had to use, she realized that it was going to be a long night. Unclasping Jaune's leather straps that kept his armour plating together, Velvet lifted him off the ground and placed him over her shoulder.

'No use in waiting around, I'll just have to take him to the medical facility myself.' She began her trek just as the sun started to set over the horizon.

Despite the fact that there are stairs, climbing Beacon Cliffs is no small feat, and doing so with another person's weight over your shoulders didn't help too much. Velvet had only made it half way up and she was already starting to feel exhausted, she noticed a small, blue, armour plated boot lying on one of the steps. 'Doesn't that belong to that Sky person…? Wait, was Cardin behind this?! I don't remember seeing them before I blacked out, they must've gotten me from behind.'

Ignoring the wayward boot, Velvet continued her climb up towards Beacon, the final rays of the suns light were diminishing quickly and darkness would befall Remnant in no time.

She needed to hurry.

* * *

The two teams met up instantly. Weiss had been studying in the Library with Ruby, while Yang was training alone. Ren and Nora were the last to come by as they were enjoying a date. Each time someone arrived, they had the same question. 'Where's Jaune?'

Each time, silence was the only reply.

When the teams had managed to come together, they noticed another person missing. "Didn't anyone call Velvet?" Asked Ruby, confused that no one would bring her here. "I did." Replied Blake, with fear as to why she wouldn't come.

Pyrrha was the first to speak. "Alright everybody, it seems that both Jaune, **and **Velvet have gone missing, we're going to have to split up and search every corner of Beacon for them." Everyone agreed with the idea, but Weiss had a question. "What if we can't find them?" Pyrrha would have replied but Blake beat her to it.

"Then we leave Beacon grounds and search Downtown Vale, or the Emerald Forest, or even Forever Fall damnit! We aren't stopping until we find them." Everyone was shocked by Blake's determination. Her team was beginning to jump to conclusions. "Blake… do you still…?" Yang didn't even know how to ask the question, but she didn't need to, Blake still understood.

"No." She replied, flatly. "But I still haven't said a word to him since that night, and I'm sick of running from him. I've got to apologize, the sooner the better." Everyone understood.

"Let us make haste." Ren said, his eyes revealing a flicker of determination.

* * *

If she was exhausted half way up the steps then by the time she had made it to the top, Velvet would have been half dead. She was too tired to carry the blonde goofball over her shoulders, so she opted to drag him instead, there was too much blood on her new outfit anyway, and she was sure the shoulder pads weren't too comfortable for him.

The distance between Beacon Cliffs and Beacon grounds isn't really that far, you could walk it in about five minutes, one if you're Ruby.

Twenty if you're slowly dragging someone.

Based on how soaked her clothes were, and the trail that she had left, Velvet figured that Jaune had lost at least a quarter of the blood in his body, but she was so close now, she could almost taste the medical IV they'd put in him.

All that she needed to do was get him through the front gates. As she continued to drag him, dark clouds began to loom overhead, and she could feel a small drizzle on her ears already. She began to pick up the pace, but her thoughts soon wondered to how this could have happened. Jaune had been growing so much stronger over the months, he mustn't have been in a right state of mind to lose to Cardin this badly.

Velvet shrugged off the thought as she realized that rain wouldn't help Jaunes condition too much, she needed to hurry.

* * *

The makeshift search party had already searched Beacon high and low and decided to leave the grounds. Ruby, Weiss, Ren and Nora all left for Downtown Vale, it was the closest populated area to Beacon, they had a long night ahead of them.

Yang, Pyrrha and Blake went in the opposite direction, going to the Emerald Forest, the closest _un_populated area to Beacon. When they reached Beacon cliffs, they failed to spot the bunny eared traveler along the way. And the trail of blood that she left was washed away by the rain.

As the three of them started down the stairs, they quickly noticed the blue boot lying on one of the steps. No one could tell who it belonged to, but they knew that it was a bad sign, so they picked up their pace.

When they reached the bottom of the steps, they all paled in horror. There was blood everywhere, it covered the trees, the grass… and the white chest plate lying on the ground. Pyrrha broke down in tears, and the other two soon followed.

* * *

The first time Velvet saw the gates to Beacon, they seemed to loom over her head, making her feel small compared to all the humans that picked on her. She could take any of them, but she just didn't want to be associated with the White Fang and give Faunus an even worse name. Human's would use any excuse they could think off if it helped them get their way.

She'd been accused of being in that group before.

But now that Velvet looked at the giant gates that loomed overhead, the only feeling she felt was relief. 'I made it,' She thought. 'I made it in time.' Velvet continued to pull Jaune along with her as she made her way to the eastern edge of the school, where the medical bay sat.

Velvet had never felt so relieved in her life, she had just saved Jaune Arc. She saved her savior, and she couldn't have felt more proud. Velvet was certain that she had just boosted other people's view of the Faunus by doing this, if they saw the so-called 'Animals' helping other people, they might just stop being so discriminatory.

She knew it was only wishful thinking, but the thought was nice.

As the Medical Bay came into Velvet's line of sight, she found that her arms felt like lead. She couldn't move them, and she couldn't pull Jaune any further. With one last tug, she fell to the floor and soon found her vision fade to black.

* * *

After the three girls had recovered from their crying, they messaged the rest of their friends the bad news. They didn't receive a reply. As much as it hurt to do so, Blake began to investigate the area, so she could piece together what may have happened.

She saw his new Scroll broken on the ground and Crocea Mors was still lying next to it in its sheath. Blake noticed that the fight that happened here wasn't… right. There was no way any Grimm could've done this, but that didn't explain where his body could've gone.

As she bent down lower to the ground, she could see the grass bent in odd places, there were footprints, but they didn't belong to any monsters, only humans.

She noticed a large patch of grass next to his chest plate as well, there was also a blood stain larger than the others there, the foliage above them blocked out most of the rain so the blood hadn't washed away yet. 'It looks like he was lying there for a while… what happened here?'

She then noticed a few small drops of blood a distance from the puddle, and a few more away from those. They formed a line. 'A trail!'

"Guy's! I don't think that Jaune is dead!"

The very second she said those words, Pyrrha's Scroll went off with a message. Drying her eyes, she brought it up and took a look at it. "Beacon Medical Center?"

* * *

When Jaune came to again, the first thing he noticed was that he was no longer outside. Observing his surroundings, Jaune looked up to the roof and a single thought plagued his mind. 'Unfamiliar ceiling… I must be at the hospital or something.' He then attempted to sit up but found that his chest wouldn't let him, nor would his legs.

'What happened?' As Jaune racked his memories for an answer he soon remembered what he saw before blacking out. "VELVET!" He all but screamed. A minute passed before a woman ran into his room. "Are you alright?!" She asked. "Where's Velvet?!" He screamed to no one in particular. The nurse seemed to relax at his question.

"You mean the girl that we found with you? Miss Scarlatina? She's fine, she only collapsed from exhaustion. When she woke up, she had much the same reaction as you." Jaune slowly calmed down at her words, but immediately perked up from the next thing she said.

"When we questioned her, she said that she carried you all the way from the Emerald Forest, right into Beacon grounds. You two must be very close." Jaune was positively flabbergasted; he couldn't believe that she would do such a thing. He knew that she was strong, but to carry him all the way up those stairs and into campus? Amazing.

"Can I see her?" He questioned slowly, afraid of the answer. He was right to be so. "Are you insane?! You're not going anywhere until your aura has you healed up! The doctors have done everything they can to help, but the recovery could take weeks! You're not going anywhere until then."

Jaune sagged in defeat. He knew she would say something like that. "I'll go and inform the doctor that you're awake, Miss Scarlatina and your other friends may come and see **you** in the mean time." Her statement confused Jaune greatly.

"Wait, what do you-" He was interrupted when the nurse opened the door and all of the friends in his group came running in. "JAUNE!" they all screamed as they lunged and hugged him at the same time.

He could've sworn he broke another rib there.

"Guy's… can't breathe… ribs." He struggled to get those words out before everyone released him, and instead hugged him one by one. Weiss was the first to speak.

"Do you have any idea how long we've been searching for you?" She asked, already knowing the answer. "You guy's were looking for me? Really?" Jaune was honestly surprised, he didn't think they would still care about him after what he caused.

He nearly had a heart attack when Blake was the one who answered his question. "Of course we were looking for you Jaune, you're still very important to us…" She looked down remorsefully. "Even if we don't always show it."

Jaune had no idea what to say. "Blake, you're…?" She looked up to him with tears visible at the edges of her eyes. "I'm sorry for the way I've been acting Jaune, I should've handled that better, I-" "You have nothing to apologize for." He said softly, interrupting her.

"I shouldn't have asked that of you, I should've just manned up and told everyone myself. I'm sorry for what I caused you," He looked between his friends in sorrow, then closed his eyes. "all of you."

When no one said anything, Jaune opened his eyes to see all of his friends looking at him in anger. When Yang started walking up to him and applied pressure to his broken rib. He realized that he might've said something stupid. "Are you seriously apologizing for being a nice guy?" She asked, completely fed up with his self-depreciation and low confidence.

"W-what are you talking about, Y-Yang?" He asked, hissing in pain. Her eyes were already red. "The reason we all fell for you is because you're such a nice guy, you can't just apologize for being who you are. **We **should apologize for acting the way we did!" Realization dawned on Jaune as Yang finally stopped torturing him.

"But I could've-" "I swear if you say 'handled that better', me and my lovely here are gonna have a word with you." Jaune was surprised when someone interrupted him, he was astonished when he saw that it was Ruby, holding Crescent Rose unsheathed.

"R-Ruby…?" He asked. Starting to wonder if this was a dream or not. "Jaune, you did what you thought was right. There's no reason for you to say sorry for that, ok?" No one was expecting her to say something like that. Jaune could only smile and nod in return.

"Jaune…" Ren started, only pausing for effect. "I spoke with Professor Goodwitch, and she said that, because of the circumstances and the fact that you only just got one, we should give you this." He finished while holding a small box towards Jaune, a smile gracing his lips.

Jaune looked confused as he grabbed the box out of his hands and opened it up. The biggest grin of his life came upon him when he saw what was inside. "Finally…" Everybody else looked into the box and laughed at Jaunes reaction.

He got another new Scroll.

* * *

As the day soon came to a close, everyone left for their own rooms, although Pyrrha lagged behind a bit. When the door closed to his room, Jaune noticed that he wasn't alone yet. Velvet was still there.

"H-hey Velvet, are you alright? You barely said a word back there…" As Jaune waited for her reply, she slowly walked up to him. The silence was uncomfortable, so Jaune decided to break it again. "Uhh, I owe you big time for what you did back there, you really saved me." His awkward smile never left his face as Velvet continued to move closer, until she was looking down on him.

'I worked hard for this!' She thought. 'And as great as it is to see him alive and well, there's something else I want from him…' Jaune was getting **very **nervous from how close she was. "Listen, if there's anything you need, don't hesitate to ask." Velvet took him up on that offer immediately.

Leaning her head down closer to his, Velvet pressed their lips together in a kiss. As much as Jaune wanted to pull back, he couldn't, a single thought played in his mind as he started kissing back.

'I guess she earned this…'


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10 - Pyrrhic Victory

Due to Jaune's massive aura supply, it only took him one week to heal both his legs and his ribs. During this time, he didn't see Velvet once, he was upset by this fact, but he had no idea what he would say if he saw her anyway.

As Professor Port's reveling lecture concluded in Grimm Studies, Jaune began to limp his way to the cafeteria, he couldn't **walk **yet, his aura wasn't that powerful. But he could make his way about.

Grabbing some Nevermore Wings, he sat down at the usual table and started eating. He looked over to where one would normally find team CRDL, they were sitting there, but one spot was empty. Despite the objections of his friends, Jaune decided not to press charges against the rest of team CRDL, saying that they were only following orders; he would be seeing Cardin in Court though.

Jaune firmly believed that everyone should have a second chance, **not a third.** He let the rest of Cardin's team off with a warning, and Professor Ozpin gave them all two month's detention, while Cardin got expelled. It was more than good enough, but the only way Cardin was getting out of Jail was if he pleads insanity, not hard to believe.

Even then, there was no way he could come back, Beacon doesn't accept applicants with a criminal record, nor does it accept the clinically insane, so Jaune doubted he'd be seeing him again. He felt bad for Russel, Dove and Sky for breaking apart their team, but it would be better to be a broken team apart, then a whole one in prison.

He was certain he'd never see any harassment from that team again.

As the rest of the group soon filled into the cafeteria, Jaune found his musings broken when his attention was awkwardly grabbed. "H-hey Jaune." Velvet greeted with a wave of her hand. Jaune nearly choked on his food. "O-oh, hey Velvet, how are you?" Velvet laughed softly. "I should be the one asking you that, you're still limping, aren't you?"

Jaune shook his head. "Oh it's not that bad, nothing to worry about, really." As the two continued their awkward conversation, the rest of their friends soon sat down with them. When Yang noticed the two, she smiled knowingly, it didn't go unnoticed by Jaune.

'Oh my God, Ren was right! She knows. How does she already know?' Before Jaune could stop her, Yang had already begun the initiative. "Well, you two seem awfully close, did something happen recently?" Jaune gulped nervously, as baddass as Velvet may be, she was still surprisingly nervous when it came to social interactions.

"I don't know what you're talking about Yang." Jaune replied, picking his words carefully. "We've always been this close, haven't we Velvet?" Velvet looked between the two in fear, it would be wrong to lie, but she didn't want to think of what Pyrrha may do if she found out what happened.

"R-right, nothing's different between us at all…" She was already starting to crack. 'Come on Velvet, don't let me down now!' Jaune thought, as he looked on in horror. Yang didn't even bother replying, she just looked at Velvet with a small smile. It was only a matter of time before-

"Alright, fine. WE KISSED!" Her hands immediately shot to her mouth in an attempt to cover what had already been said. Yang burst out laughing while Weiss and Ruby both blushed, Ren and Blake smiled softly, as Nora began dancing around the place singing 'Jaune and Velvet sitting in a tree!' over and over again. Jaune deadpanned while Pyrrha stood to her feat.

"WHAT?!" She screamed in a jealous outrage. "How did this even happen?!" Velvet flinched while Jaune looked over to her nervously. "Well, the night I woke up, Velvet stayed behind after everyone left, I told her if there was anything she wanted, she should just ask. I felt like I needed to repay her for what she did." He stopped for a moment, wondering how he should say the next part.

"So in return, she kissed me. I didn't think about stopping her, instead I just started kissing back. I figured 'If that's what she wants, that's what she gets.' Ever since, well…" He looked away sadly. "Today was the first day we spoke since then."

Pyrrha couldn't believe what she was hearing. 'They kissed? Jaune kissed another girl? I didn't get his first?' As these thoughts plagued her head, she found unmatched resolve when one thought struck her. 'If I can't have his first kiss, the best I can do is give him mine.'

With this thought in her head, Pyrrha leaned across the table, grabbed Jaune by his tie, pulled him towards her and met him halfway.

The two locked lips instantly, Pyrrha felt a wave of pure bliss cross over her, but ignored it and tried her hardest to deepen the kiss. Jaune was shocked beyond words, but the wave of pleasure he felt caused him to lose his bearings and so he began to kiss back.

As they were beginning to run out of breath, Pyrrha slid her tongue into his mouth and licked his tongue with her own; she really wanted to outmatch Velvet.

As the two parted, Pyrrha pushed Jaune back into his seat, stood up, and walked out of the cafeteria, Velvet left through the other exit in a jealous outrage. When Jaune came back to his senses, he saw all of the members of his group staring at him in awe.

"What just happened?" He asked, not entirely capable of comprehending the past sequence of events.

* * *

Pyrrha was upset with herself, she let her emotions control her actions, and hurt Velvet in the process. But she couldn't get over the fact that she just had her first kiss. And it was with Jaune Arc, she was positively elated.

Pyrrha knew that she would have to apologize eventually, but that could wait, she wanted to take her mind off of her thoughts, so she made a beeline for the training arena. When she arrived, Pyrrha called out to the room. "Run the training simulation for me, F.I.L.S.S." An artificial female voice replied. "Initiating training program."

Pyrrha reached the center of the training floor. As she did, she was soon surrounded by two rows of rotating green, holographic targets. Pyrrha readied herself before begining to expertly punch and kick them, turning them red, and raising her score.

As the last of the targets turn red, the voice (now known to be F.I.L.S.S.) announces the results. "Round complete. A six-point-three percent increase in efficiency that round Miss Ni-" "Run it again, F.I.L.S.S." Pyrrha interrupts, not caring about the results, and only wanting something to take her mind off of things.

"Resetting training room floor for next round." As the targets reappear, Pyrrha takes no time at all to begin attacking them. By this point Jaune had left the Cafeteria in search of her. He knew exactly where she would've gone. But he wasn't expecting her to be acting the way she was when he saw her.

"Round complete." Pyrrha interrupted the A.I. "Run it again F.I.L.S.S." The voice continued. "A three-point-" Pyrrha was getting mad now. "I said run it again!"

"Resetting training room floor for next round." As Pyrrha began attacking the holograms again, Jaune noticed that her movements were sloppy; she was missing a lot of the targets as well. 'What's going on with her?' He wondered as the last hologram was hit.

"Run it again." She said as the voice continued to record the results. Jaune was watching intently as Pyrrha did a particularly high jump kick, he saw that when she booted herself off the ground, she did so at an odd angle and merely fell to the floor.

The resounding *crack* that followed had Jaune running towards her and shutting down the simulation. "Pyrrha! Are you ok?!" Jaune yelled as he saw her expression twist to a look of pain.

Jaune looked managed to grab Pyrrha's attention long enough for her to give him an apologetic smile. "Sorry about that Jaune, it looks like I let my emotions cloud my judgement, seems it even affected my fighting."

Jaune shook his head. "Don't say sorry Pyrrha, everyone needs a release, and you shouldn't keep your emotions bottled up in the first place anyway." Jaune just kept smiling at Pyrrha until he decided that sitting around wouldn't help her ankle. "Now come on, let's get you to the Medical Bay."

While standing up, Jaune grabbed Pyrrha with one hand under her knees, and the other holding her shoulder, lifting her up bridal style. The amount of time it took for the red to reach her face should have knocked her out, it was practically instant.

Jaune laughed. "Really? You're perfectly fine with kissing me, but having me carry you makes you blush? I'll never understand women." As he began to walk out of the training grounds, Jaune realized a small problem.

The training grounds were situated on the western side of Beacon, while the Medical Bay was on the eastern side. A huge design flaw in Jaunes opinion, they should be next to each other, in case of a training accident, like this one.

"Sorry Pyrrha, this could take a while." When Jaune didn't get a reply, he looked down in confusion. Only to find that Pyrrha had fallen asleep in his arms, despite the large amount of pain she should have been feeling. He only smiled as he continued to walk to the Med Bay.

Classes had already started by the time they left the training grounds, so Jaune didn't come across any other students or teachers. He decided that all of his friends would be in class as well, so he shouldn't bother messaging them yet.

It took him no more than ten minutes to bring Pyrrha to the Med Bay, even with his limp. When he walked inside, he saw the nurse from before, the one that came in when he woke up. "Excuse me Miss…" He started, trying to gain her attention.

"Oh hello there Mr Arc, here with another woman I see, at least you're the one carrying her this time." She seemed to have a sense of humour, Jaune was glad. "Very funny Miss, but I'm afraid my friend here has broken her ankle, she's only sleeping right now but she'll be in some pretty bad pain when she wakes up."

The Nurse nodded in understanding. "Of course, please come with me, I'll set up a room for her and call a Doctor immediately." Jaune thanked her as he brought Pyrrha into an empty room. The Nurse left to find the Doctor as soon as he did.

When Jaune heard the door close behind them, he knew that he would have to leave when the Doctor arrived, so he decided to talk to Pyrrha before he left, even if she couldn't hear him.

"Listen Pyrrha…" He started as he pushed a strand of hair behind her ear, while she was training, her hair tie fell out and her hair was let down as a result. He always loved the way she looked with her hair down, it was simply mesmerizing.

"You and I are gonna have a talk once you're allowed visitors, you need to stop overexerting yourself. You're ten times stronger than I am, you really don't need to get much stronger. Besides… I just don't want to see you get hurt."

As he finished talking to her, the door opened behind him and Jaune was ushered out of the room, the Nurse told him that he could see his 'girlfriend' at the end of the day and that he should return to class to spend time with his **other **girlfriend.

He didn't bother trying to correct her.

As Jaune walked into his History class, Oobleck reprimanded him for being late, he then went on a spiel about how some great General was late to the war and… no one could really understand him after that.

Jaune sat down next to Velvet and she asked what had taken him so long. "I'll tell you at the end of class." Was his only reply.

As Oobleck raced around the room, he froze in mid glide when he noticed the bell began to ring. He ended his lecture and the students filed out of the classroom. As Jaune left, he messaged everyone on his contacts list that Pyrrha was in the Med Bay on a broken ankle. They were all in front of him in an instant.

"What happened?" Ren asked, with slight traces of fear in his voice. "A training accident." Jaune replied. "She fell on her ankle after failing a high jump kick. The rest is history." As Jaune spoke, everyone noted that he seemed distant, he was obviously upset because of Pyrrha, but he wasn't acting natural.

No one dared ask why.

"Well?! What are we waiting for?!" Nora asked, confused as to why everyone was just standing around. "LET'S GO SEE HER!" Everybody smiled at the hyperactive girl's antics and couldn't help but agree.

* * *

Pyrrha had woken up to a great deal of pain in her left ankle, when she checked to see what it was, medical tape was all she found. Pyrrha then took note of her surroundings and saw that she was in what seemed to be a hospital bed. Thinking back to what may have caused this; Pyrrha remembered the incident in the training facility.

"I'm such a fool…" She thought aloud. "Why do you say that, Miss Nikos?" Replied a voice that Pyrrha didn't recognize. Looking to her left, she saw a Nurse sitting in a chair placed next to her bed.

Startled, Pyrrha took a moment to reply. "I let my emotions bottle up, and acted irrationally because of it, my leader is probably disappointed in me now."

The Nurse looked very surprised by this. "Do you mean that Jaune Arc, fellow?" Pyrrha nodded. "You do realize that he carried you the entire way here, don't you?" Pyrrha's shocked expression answered the question for her.

"I don't think that boy is disappointed in you dear. Something tells me he might even have a thing for you." Pyrrha's blush double in size, and the Nurse laughed as she made for the exit. After she left, Pyrrha was left with her thoughts.

For about five seconds.

The door opened and her entire team walked in, team RWBY and even Velvet decided to visit at that time too. Pyrrha felt warm when she saw how much her friends cared for her, Nora even brought flowers. Jaune spoke first.

"Hey Pyrrha, how ya holdin' up?" Pyrrha smiled at the blonde, but before she could answer, Yang had interrupted her. "I'd say she's feeling a lot better now that you're here, Jaune. Isn't that right Pyrrha?"

She was blushing in no time. "I don't know what you're talking about Yang, it's not like we're going out or anything. We're just friends." Yang's grin widened even further.

"And yet the entire cafeteria saw you two kissing… Wonder what that was all about." Jaune was getting tired of Yang's torment. "Come on Yang, lay off her. I'm sure it was a spur of the moment thing, right Pyrrha?" Everyone could see her disappointment at what Jaune had said.

"Yes, you're right Jaune, it won't happen again." Her voice cracked slightly, and Jaune felt guilty immediately. "Well… I mean, I suppose that it _could _happen again… maybe, I don't know…" The awkwardness in the air was practically tangible, but it dissipated quickly, Pyrrha smiled as a result.

* * *

Night had fallen on Beacon, and with it, the need for sleep. As everyone made for the door to leave, Jaune stayed behind, he needed to speak with Pyrrha alone before he left.

Everyone nodded in understanding. While Velvet was slow to agree with it, she let it slide this once. Yang only smiled knowingly.

As the door shut, Jaune turned to Pyrrha lying in the bed, things got awkward immediately. "H-how long are you going to be in here for?" He asked, already knowing he wouldn't like the answer.

"One week, I don't have the amount of aura that you do, so it'll take some time to heal." Jaune nodded, he wasn't the best at small talk, so he decided that it would be best to just tackle the problem.

"Pyrrha, I need you to understand that I'm not sure how I feel at the moment. I was happy when you kissed me, but I was also happy when Velvet did too. I like you Pyrrha, I care about you a lot. But I don't know who I'm in love with, so I need you to stop acting so forward, and just give me time to decide on my own."

Pyrrha looked away, unable to match her leader's gaze. "I-is that an order?" She was very afraid that she made a mistake today. That fear left her when Jaune cupped her cheeks in his hands and turned her to look at him; he had such a warm smile.

"No, it's a request." No sooner had he finished his sentence, Jaune leaned in and pressed his lips against Pyrrhas. She was shocked to say the least, but she soon found herself melting into it.

One final thought played in her head as they parted and Jaune left the room. 'If he wants time to decide on his own, I'll give him time.' Pyrrha closed her eyes, deep in thought.

'But a little push every now and then couldn't hurt…'


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11 – Boundless Pool of Energy

**I mention Velvet's team in this chapter, I just want everyone to know that I did not make OC's, they almost always ruin the worth of a story, and I hate them. I just describe what we can see from her team based on the silhouette that Monty showed, and the brief glimpse we saw in the Volume 2 intro. That is all.**

* * *

Some people enjoy life by taking it slow, and getting close to the little things. Nora went through life in **Maximum Overdrive, **and spent her time around big things, preferably ones she can smash under her hammer.

But one is forced to take things slow when dating Lie Ren; he is the epitome of chill. Nora knows that his calm hides a storm, but even when storming, he's always so calm! Nora wants excitement; she wants to see the look in his eyes when he gets into a fierce fight.

So that is why she is currently firing grenades into a cave, said to be filled with Nevermore. Don't try to question her logic; it's like dividing by zero. You'll only cause a paradox somewhere.

"Come on out, birdie! I only want to clip your wings!" Again, don't try to understand her, Ren's known her for years and still doesn't get the girl.

A loud screech fills the air as two giant ravens fly from the cave and directly towards Nora. "Finally…"

* * *

'Today was a good day…' Ren thought, as he waked throughout the courtyards of Beacon. 'I got to sleep in, and when I woke up, Jaune was happily chatting with team RWBY in the cafeteria. Nora said that she had some work to do for an assignment, so I haven't seen her since this morning. Pyrrha and Velvet are also toning down their advances on Jaune, so everything just seems so peaceful now.'

As Ren paced the grounds of Beacon, his thoughts were interrupted by a soft beeping sound coming from his pocket. He pulled out his Scroll and found one new message. 'Oh, it's from Nora, I was wondering where she was.'

He nearly dropped the device when he read the message she sent for him. He was sprinting for Beacon Cliffs in no time. While he ran, he decided to check the message one more time, just to make sure. 'How did she even…?' "Damnit Nora!" He screamed as he ran for the propulsion devices left for initiation.

"Only you could think that going into the forest alone is a good idea!" When he reached the same place he stood for initiation all those months ago, Ren jumped onto the first pad that he saw, and was launched into the forest immediately.

He needed to help Nora.

* * *

"Hmm, what's taking him so long? I'm a damsel in distress here!" Nora was getting bored, it had been a full thirty seconds since she sent that message. THIRTY SECONDS.

Gone, wasted, never again will she see that time of her life. As she looked around the tree that she was hiding in, she could see two Nevermore circling the area above her, some King Taijitu coming her way as well. She took Magnhild off her back.

'Well, I guess that **distress **might be overdoing it a bit…' Laughing, she fired a few pop shots in the direction of the snakes, blowing the head off one, and burning the other. As she did so, she could hear a small flinging sound off in the distance; she could swear that she heard the aggravated sigh that would follow suit.

'Took him long enough…' Nora smiled, knowing that her knight in baggy green clothes was coming to 'rescue' her, she couldn't wait.

* * *

'I knew it.' Ren thought as he glided through the air. 'She set this up; she purposely annoyed a group of Grimm, so that I would come here.' Despite the wind rushing in his ears, Ren could here explosions and laughter off in the distance, a sure sign that Nora was around.

Or an insane pyromaniac, it's hard to tell the difference sometimes.

Retrieving Stormflower from his sleeves, Ren utilized the same landing strategy he used the first time he came here. Spinning around the trunk of a large tree, Ren landed gracefully and took off in a sprint.

'I don't know why she's doing this, but it better be worth it.'

It took him a mere two minutes to make it to her; Ren trains hard using his aura, and knows how to activate it to his advantage. In this case, pooling all of it into his legs to increase his speed. It was a skill that Nora never looked over during an encounter, just imagine what havoc would ensue if she could increase her speed like that…

Ren shuddered at the thought.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Mr Slowpoke, glad you could make it in time, I was afraid I'd need to play all by myself." Ren looked at her with his usual stoic expression.

"Nora, I counted four King Taijitu's and two Nevermore on my way in here, what are you doing?" As Nora transformed her weapon into its hammer form, she smiled in glee. "An experiment."

She was on the two headed snakes back in an instant. Ren could only sigh as he jumped out of the tree after her. Nora snuck a peek at his face as he did so, and she saw it, that look of fierce determination he would have when getting serious.

It was **very **hot.

* * *

The King Taijitu's were child's play for the two Hunters, but two Nevermore? That's a whole lotta nope. Not even Nora could figure out how Ruby and Weiss managed to get a hold of one during initiation, and if Nora's imagination couldn't think of it, Ren didn't want to know the reality.

So they ran. The two of them ran right for Beacon Cliffs, and directly **away **from the flying obelisks of death. Nora called it a 'Tactical Temporary Retreat', Ren called it living for another day.

As the two made it to the top of the dead drop Ozpin calls a cliff, Ren decided now wouldn't be a terrible time for some answers.

"Alright Nora, what happened back there? I know you brought those things to you on purpose." Nora looked taken aback, or at least tried to.

"Why my dear Renny, whatever do you mean? Why would I possibly think to do something that awesome on purpose?" Ren looked at her flatly. "Because you wouldn't have done it by accident, and I don't know why you would do it on purpose, that's why I know you did."

She grinned sheepishly. "Well, I guess you could say that I wanted to see the birdies…" She stopped herself when she saw the look in his eyes, the same one as before.

Fierce determination.

She had never seen him look at her with those eyes though, he looked scary, mad even, and if there was anything she hated, it was Ren being mad. She fed up. "I just… wanted to see you in a fight, Ren. You always look so cool and exciting. It feels like I don't see that side of you enough…"

Ren relaxed at her words, and so did his eyes. "I suppose we have been taking things a bit slow, things were starting to get a little **too **dull around here as well." He stopped to think for a moment, unsure if what he was planning to say would be the right move.

"Why don't we take this relationship to the next level? Add a little excitement."

Nora blushed heavily, but smiled as well, happy that he was thinking the same thing as her. "Alright, I'll message Pyrrha and tell her to stay out of the dorm tonight; she'll take Jaune as well."

Ren nodded, and offered her his rare smile; he then took her hands, lent down and kissed her. That was the least tame the night would get for the couple.

* * *

Pyrrha was confused when she got a message from Nora stating that she and Jaune were to stay out of the room all night, but she was also lucky enough that Ruby called for a sleepover in her room across the hall.

When she asked if Jaune could come, Ruby looked mortified. "A boy at an all-girl's-sleepover? Are you insane?!" Pyrrha didn't see the problem with it, but was unable to protest against the small girl's judgement.

When she informed Jaune that he would need to find other sleeping arrangements, he didn't seem too fazed by it. That is, until she told him that he couldn't stay in team RWBY's room, and that Velvet would be there too.

Then he looked horrified.

None of the group had ever met the rest of Velvet's team, they had seen them on the occasion, but none have ever actually spoken to them.

Including Velvet, there are two girls and two guys, the other girl besides Velvet, wore an odd hat, with large goggles, she appears to be the leader, probably uses heavy artillery like Nora.

One of the guys was a big one; he was very tall and had quite a large weapon on his back at all times. He seemed nice enough.

But the other guy was a bit of a mystery, no one had ever seen him directly, all that they knew was that he had very large gauntlets with very pointy ends on them. There was a running joke throughout the group that he had some dark, mysterious past, but no one knew for sure.

Pyrrha was worried about where her leader may sleep for the night, but her thoughts soon turned towards the night of her own, and what she may be doing with her friends.

* * *

Jaune was mildly worried. Scratch that, he was **very **worried. For some reason, Ren and Nora needed the room for themselves tonight, for what? Jaune didn't want to know.

The problem was that Ren is the only male friend he has, and all of team RWBY wouldn't let him sleep in their room. Velvet wouldn't be in her own dorm either and he's never met her team so it would be awkward to ask them for sleeping arrangements.

As Jaune thought over anywhere else he may be able to stay for the night, a depressing thought dawned on him.

'I have such a small amount of friends…'

He was certain that he had more than whoever he hung out with in his group though, there wasn't a doubt in his mind. Jaune remembered that he had a friends list installed on his Scroll, so he could message them easier.

He pulled up the device and checked his list of contacts. 'Eight contacts… that's the whole group.'

Sighing as he put the device back into his pocket, Jaune decided to re-think his list of options. 'Alright, let's see here… RWBY is out, Velvet is out, Ren and Nora are the reason I can't stay in the room, and Pyrrha is in the same boat as I am, except she's got a place to sleep tonight.'

He continued to brainstorm. '...Is that really all of the people I know? Wow.'

As Jaune continued to think about the mistakes he made in his life to lead him to this point, he failed to notice someone walk in front of him.

When the two collided, a calm voice spoke to him. "We should stop meeting like this Mr Arc, people might start saying things." Looking up, Jaune saw Professor Ozpin looking at him, a ghost of a smile playing across his features.

"O-oh, Headmaster, I'm sorry. I wasn't-" "Watching were you were going, yes we've been through this song and dance before Mr Arc, although last time we did, you had a small problem on your hands, I can only imagine that this is the case today, hmm?"

Despite the fact that Jaune was interrupted (rather rudely, he might add), he couldn't help but tell the Professor his problem, he just seems so trustworthy.

"Well, to cut things short, I don't have anywhere to sleep tonight, I'm afraid that I'll have to sleep up on the roof or on a bench outside or something." Ozpin nodded his head in understanding.

"Yes, I saw this day coming soon, I imagine it was Mr Ren and Miss Valkyrie that kicked you out." Before Jaune could answer what he thought was a question, the Professor continued.

"The two of them have been growing rather close recently, but I thought you would just stay with your friends across the hall, with team RWBY."

When Jaune noticed that the Headmaster had stopped talking for more than three seconds, he realized that it was now his turn to speak. "I was planning to, but they're having a sleepover tonight, and apparently 'No boys aloud'."

Ozpin hummed in agreement as he took a sip of coffee. "I see, that does seem to be quite the predicament that you've found yourself in." He brought the mug down and looked Jaune in the eye.

"Now what kind of Headmaster would I be if I had my students sleeping outside? Tell you what, there's a rather comfy couch in my office that's empty tonight, you can stay there while your friends enjoy themselves."

Jaunes eyes lit up in pure bliss at the thought, but another thought found him slightly weirded out. "You do mean while RWBY and the other girls enjoy themselves, right?"

Ozpins mind seemed elsewhere. "Hm? Oh yes of course, right. Ahem, now then! No point in wasting any more time, let's be off." As Jaune was ushered towards the Headmasters office, he couldn't help but think that the night had only just begun for him.

* * *

Pyrrha was nervous, she had never been to a sleepover before, and she had no idea what goes down at one. If social media held any merit, she should expect snacks, games, some truth or dare, and in some rare cases a pillow fight in her underwear.

She's not entirely sure about that last one.

All that she really could expect was that she'd be hanging out with her friends, at night time, and she'd be sleeping in relatively close proximity to them.

That was all.

So that was all that she thought about doing as she knocked on their door that night, hoping for a good time, she could tell Nora was having one from the noise she could hear behind her.

Pyrrha decided not to think about those two for the rest of the night, it was for the best.

Weiss was the one to open the door for her, and she was as pleasant as always. "What took you so long? Everyone is already here." Pyrrha was going to answer, but Yang interrupted.

"Come on 'Snow Angel', don't be mean, we're all here to enjoy ourselves after all." She looked Pyrrha up and down the same way Ruby would look at a plate of cookies. "Some more than others…" She purred.

'Is she… drunk?'

As Pyrrha entered the room, she could indeed smell liquor, she was about to ask why, but Ruby was already answering the question. Velvet asked when she entered too after all.

"We don't actually have any of that stuff with us; Yang just stole some off of some upperclassmen and had the whole bottle. She's the only one like that, I swear."

As Pyrrha pondered the possibilities of what the night may hold with Yang in her current position, she decided to just roll with it, there was no point in getting mad about something she had no control over.

Besides, Yang looked pretty funny when she was trying to grope everyone.

* * *

Velvet was glad that Pyrrha could make it tonight; they may be rivals when it came to Jaune, but while he wasn't around, the two tried to keep some semblance of friendship.

There was no point in fighting over what wasn't there after all.

So she gave a soft smile to the redhead when she greeted her, and Pyrrha responded in kind. It was as if the two weren't glaring daggers at each other all of yesterday.

It wasn't easy, but they tried to be nice. The two of them knew that Jaune wanted all of his friends to be happy, and if they were fighting with each other all the time, he wouldn't pick either of them.

So they chatted amicably throughout the night, playing games and eating way more junk food than the body would allow. They were the best of friends for as long as possible.

But they both know that it won't last. When Jaune finally chooses a girl, the other one will be left behind, Jaune will obviously try to cheer them up and make them happy, but they'll be as crushed as team RWBY was and they know it.

So for as long as they possibly could, they stayed as friends, never really knowing if that day would be the last that they could.

Because reality is a harsh mistress, and Jaune is nothing, if not realistic.

* * *

"Are you sure it's alright for me to sleep here tonight sir?" Jaune asked, holding a pillow and blanket in his arms. "This doesn't seem like something that happens often…"

Ozpin looked up from his desk, cluttered with paperwork. "There's always time to try new things Mr Arc, I suppose letting a student sleep in my office is one of them." He looked back at his work and took a sip of his mug; it'd be a long night.

"If you're sure sir…" He placed the sleeping necessities on the hard leather couch and lied down. As Jaune closed his eyes, his thoughts found themselves drifting towards the infatuated of his group of friends.

He knew that team RWBY still had small residue left over from when they continuously made passes at him, particularly Yang.

She made jokes about doing everyone at the table all the time, but when she made them about him, he could tell that she was actually serious sometimes.

He shuddered at the thought.

Ruby was still less energetic than she used to be, she rarely uses her semblance anymore and the classic bounce to her step seems to have faded to a slow trudge, as if just getting out of bed was a chore.

If Weiss acted cold to him before, she was pretty much frozen by now. She used to be short with him, and would occasionally whack him upside the head, but now…

She barely speaks to him anymore, always saying that she's far too busy to play, or waste her time acknowledging his existence. It hurt far more than any of her attacks, but he knew she'd be better off for it.

Blake was… well, Blake. There really wasn't any way to describe her. She was still as distant and uninterested as ever, but she seems to show the same amount of concern that she used to whenever he had a problem.

He was glad that she cared enough to put up such a façade, it meant a lot to see that she still worries, without constantly trying to scream her teammates ears off.

Jaune soon found his thoughts return to reality when he began to inspect the room he was in, there were a lot of bookshelves lining the walls, each one had plenty of thick uninteresting books in them, and they were even starting to get dusty by the looks of things.

His eyes drifted to the window, it was too dark to see outside, but you could definitely tell you were high up, even at this time of night.

Ozpins office was situated in the main spire that gave Beacon its name; it was fairly close to the top. If Jaune listened closely, he could almost hear gears turning up above him.

He soon turned his gaze towards the tired Professor himself, his desk was still packed with paperwork, and the two of them had been in the room for hours based on his clock.

Jaune decided to speak up because of it. "Hey Professor, why do you have so much paperwork? Don't you have an assistant to deal with that sort of stuff?" Ozpin looked up with tired eyes to the boy he saw so much potential in.

"Indeed I do Mr Arc, and she has even more to deal with than I do. Miss Goodwitch is an avid worker; I couldn't do my job without her." Ozpin smiled at the thought.

"However, there is some paperwork that must be handled by the head of the school, and no one else." Jaune was slightly confused. "What's so important that it can only be done by the Headmaster?" He asked.

Ozpin grinned in reply. "These things are only meant for the eyes of the Headmaster, Mr Arc. Telling you what they are would make that fact void." Jaune blushed at the comment.

"But." Ozpin started, his tone growing more serious. "I suppose there is one thing that is only meant for me to see that I know you'll keep a secret. You already have been after all." Jaune stood up, and walked over to his desk tentatively. "W-what is that?" He asked.

"Faulty transcripts."

Jaune paled in horror when he realized what Ozpin meant. 'Oh no…' He attempted to speak up, but the words turned to ash in his mouth.

"There is no need to worry Mr Arc, if I was going to get rid of you, you would have been gone before you even got to Beacon." He stated, his eyes never leaving Jaunes.

"I imagine that you would've told the rest of your team about this by now, yes." Jaune didn't reply. "I knew that you were lying your way in from the start Mr Arc, but there was a reason I didn't throw you out like all the others who attempted to do so."

Jaune honestly couldn't believe what he was hearing.

Ozpin continued. "It isn't because of your heritage, if that's what you're thinking. I let you in because you had no prior combat training."

Jaune was beginning to get confused.

"All of the other applicants that had forged transcripts didn't get accepted into the school of their choice, so they tried to get in here. They had all trained to reach where they were. But you didn't." He stopped to take a sip from his mug, still as calm and collected as ever.

"You hadn't applied to any other schools, only Beacon, the toughest Hunting academy in Vytal. I knew that you were destined to come here when I saw that, you had enough confidence in your abilities to come here with no training, there was no way I was passing you up."

Jaune still hadn't said a word, he couldn't. No words could do him justice at the moment. He merely nodded to the professor and returned to the couch. His curiosity was raised enough to ask one last question though.

"But why do you have to continue to handle my transcripts sir? I thought they were supposed to go into some kind of vault." Ozpin smiled again.

"They are, Jaune. But I handle them personally, so that no one can figure out that they're fake and kick you out themselves."

Jaune asked no more questions that night, and simply went to sleep.

* * *

Ren lay in bed comfortably that night, usually when Nora was with him, he'd find it hard to sleep because of all her kicking and shoving.

But for once, after much deliberation of course, his boundless pool of energy was sleeping peacefully. He had a single thought before he joined her.

'I was right after all… today **was **a good day.'


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12 – Mixed Feelings

It had taken some time, but Ruby finally learned to accept what happened with Jaune.

She was upset of course, who wouldn't be? But she soon found reason to speed up using her semblance again, to go to the training room to improve, not just take out her frustrations.

And she found enough happiness to give a bounce to her step again. Why?

Weiss.

The two had been tearing each other's throats out over Jaune when he wasn't around, sometimes when he was. But just as Jaune predicted; when he had them stop gunning for him. They stopped fighting as a result.

The two had only grown closer since then.

They apologized right away, the two of them knew they were acting irrational, but there was nothing they could do to stop it. They used to love him after all. Key phrase: used to.

The two of them took their sweet time, but they managed to get over the blonde goofball eventually, it wouldn't have been possible if it weren't for each other's help, and they knew it.

So Ruby had begun to be even kinder to the cool heiress, doing whatever she could to compensate for all that Weiss had done for her.

She began to do as she was told, paying more attention to what Weiss said, and actually trying to learn more when studying. If Weiss wanted Ruby to get better and improve as a leader, Ruby would be the best.

It is currently eight o'clock at night, most of her team were in the dorm, but Ruby was still up studying, she needed to finish Ports assignment.

With her head buried in a pile of books, and at least three workbooks open to the side of her, Ruby was quite the sight to behold.

"Why do we have to learn the psychological nature of Beowolves? I can barely understand what humans are thinking, the Grimm aren't gonna be much easier."

"We must learn what our targets may be thinking if we truly want to be able to hunt them," A voice spoke up behind her, and startled Ruby. "Know your enemy, its rule number one, you dolt."

Ruby knew no other person that spoke using such outdated insults. "Still, don't we have better stuff to be learning about?" Weiss merely scoffed. "I don't understand how you managed to skip two years with that train of thought."

Ruby smirked. "Maybe it's that train of thought that **made **me skip to years in the first place." As Weiss sat down, she gave Ruby a hard stare. "Even if that were the case, which I doubt, there is still a lot that you have to learn."

Ruby turned away from the mess of books she had created to give Weiss a confused look. "I know that. There's always more to learn, we both need to keep studying if we want to become full-fledged Huntresses."

Weiss could only offer a rare smile to the small girl that had become a sort of protégé to her these last few weeks, the two had learned a lot about each other. Weiss found it hard to act cold towards the naive young girl.

"It's good to see you're not trying so hard to show off anymore." Ruby smiled at her mentor. "Yeah, it's also nice to see you acting modest now too, you're not so up-yourself anymore." Weiss would have gotten mad at the statement, but the huge grin on Ruby's face kept her from truly getting angry.

Weiss only sighed. "What am I going to do with you…"

* * *

It was night-time in team RWBY's dorm when Weiss returned from a long days training. She was exhausted after breaking the high score in the training facility; she was always the best after all.

Opening the door and walking inside, Weiss found that Blake and Yang weren't there. It was just Ruby up on her top bunk studying.

A small smile graced her lips when she realized just how important getting better had become to Ruby; there was hope for her yet.

"Good evening Ruby, still studying I see." Ruby looked up from her pile of papers and books. "Yeah, I've almost finished that assignment now; I'm just making sure I didn't mess up anywhere."

Weiss saw a book jutting out from one of Blakes bookshelves, she grabbed it. Making sure it wasn't any of the smut she was sure was lying around, Weiss made her way to her own bed, right under Ruby.

She sat down and began to read, hoping to pass the time quickly and be done with the day. No matter how tired she was, Weiss couldn't sleep before eight o'clock, she wouldn't let her sleeping pattern suffer such a fate.

The time passed quickly enough, and Ruby had soon finished her work, the surprising thing is; the assignment isn't due for another month, Weiss hadn't even completed it yet. Ruby was simply more driven now.

She was also bored, and Weiss sitting around reading a book wasn't helping with that. So she peeked her head down, taking extra care to avoid a certain rope that was a bit out of place. The bed had fallen before; luckily Weiss wasn't in it at the time.

"Heya Weiss, watcha readin?" She purposely shortened her words, just to aggravate the pristine princess. Weiss pulled a Blake as a reply, and simply looked at the girl with a bored face.

"If you must know, it's a book about one man who's oblivious to all the girls around him. They had all fallen for him long ago but he doesn't know about it." Weiss described the book thoroughly, she was actually enjoying it.

"Really? Sounds weird, who does he end up with?" Weiss looked up from the book again, a little annoyed that she was interrupted for a second time. 'So this is how it feels to be Blake, no wonder she's always so short with everyone.'

"I don't know, I haven't read that far yet. But by the looks of things so far, I don't think he'll end up with anyone." Ruby was confused. "Why do you say that?"

Weiss continued. "He's known all of these people for a while, they're all very close to him and he doesn't want to see any of them hurt. Based on the things he's saying, I doubt that he'll pick one over the other, to preserve all of their feelings…"

As Weiss was describing the story, she began to trail off when she noticed why she enjoyed the book so much. She had practically lived through it herself.

"Sounds a little familiar…" Ruby noticed it too. The knight across the hall was basically the main protagonist.

Weiss realized it then. "It's actually a rather depressing story, it's centred on the guy, and how hard it is for him to keep all of his friends happy." Ruby nodded.

"It doesn't sound like it would be easy. He must have to make some pretty tough choices in a situation like that…"

The two looked at each other evenly. "Why did you fall for him, Weiss? You're always so distant to everyone, what made Jaune so special?"

Weiss could no longer match her eyes. "He worried about me even more than himself, he figured out my problems without me so much as saying two words to him. Even after all the cruel things I said to him, he was still always so kind…"

Ruby understood what she meant, Weiss **still **hasn't said everything about her past, and Ruby doubted she ever would.

"What about you, Ruby? Why did you fall for him?" Ruby scratched the back of her head nervously, a little embarrassed.

"I'm still not certain if I really **fell **for him, for all that I have experience with, it could've just been a crush, or hormones. I don't know…" That wasn't good enough for Weiss.

"Then tell me what you do know." Ruby looked away, blushing.

"I know that he is really kind, and he's always looking out for everyone, even if he couldn't really help. I knew some guys back at Signal, but none of them were ever so… caring! It's amazing just how nice Jaune really is." Weiss nodded in agreement, well aware of how selfless the goofball can be.

"I know that it's been a while since Blake told us but… it's still a little hard to think about." Ruby sat down next to Weiss and took her hands in her own.

"I know it isn't easy, but it's for the best, we would've killed each other by now if he hadn't stopped us. I'd prefer my team over some guy any day." Weiss smiled at her leader, unable to hold back the chuckle that escaped her lips.

"You're right Ruby, I agree, we'll always stick together no matter what. It doesn't matter if that's what he wanted or not, it's what I want."

The two shared a small moment that night, one that they wouldn't soon forget.

The night came to a close soon enough as Blake and Yang returned to the room after hanging out with Pyrrha and Velvet. Jaune was with Nora and Ren across the hall. When Blake spotted the book lying on the floor next to Weiss' bed, she smiled to herself.

'Good, I was hoping one of them would read it.' Blake knew that she had just saved Jaune a lot of trouble, and helped her teammates cope in the process. All with a book she left just slightly jutted out in her bookshelf.

* * *

The next morning, Weiss awoke to the room being empty, it was Sunday, so she wasn't surprised to see that no one was there, she was the only one who sleeps in on Sundays.

The moment Weiss woke up, she had a thought. 'I wonder where Ruby is…' Her question was soon answered when Ruby walked into the room, holding two cups of coffee, and a great smile on her face.

"Good morning Weiss! I brought you a little pick-me-up." Weiss was still half asleep when she noticed Ruby come in, but her presence made her feel happier.

"Good morning Ruby, what are you doing up so early?" Ruby laughed. "Early? It's eleven in the morning, Weiss! It's not early." Weiss' eyes widened in shock when her tired mind comprehended what Ruby said.

"WHAT?! It's that late?! Why didn't anyone wake me?!" Ruby laughed again. "You just looked so peaceful there; we didn't want to disturb you." Weiss growled in frustration as she took a sip of her coffee.

The two sat together in comfortable silence, neither wanting to break the peace that they so rarely got these days. It isn't easy being a Huntress.

"Hey Weiss…" Ruby started. "Hmm…?" Weiss replied. "What do you know about the past? I mean the **distant **past, back when the Grimm were everywhere." Weiss was a little confused.

"Where did that come from? Why are you so interested in history at the moment?" Ruby looked away sheepishly. "It isn't really about history…" Weiss waited patiently for her to continue.

"It's just that you have such a famous family, your heritage must go _way _back. I wanted to know if you were ever told anything about back then."

As Weiss thought back to her past, she found memories of herself with a smiling woman; Weiss was sitting on her lap while she told her stories about the great Schnee's of the past. But that was a long time ago…

"I was never told any stories, but my mother did tell me what it was like to live back then. She obviously didn't know personally, but our family saying says more than enough." Ruby listened intently, like a child during story time. It made Weiss smile.

"It isn't very long, but the words easily determine how disciplined the Hunters of the past were." Ruby was getting impatient. "Stop building suspense and just tell me already."

Weiss' smile grew. "The saying goes: 'Sie sind das Essen, und wir sind die jäger'." When Weiss saw Ruby's confused expression she explained further.

"It means: 'They are the prey, and we are the Hunters'. Just that sentence alone proves how determined the Huntsmen and Huntresses of the past were. They wouldn't accept that the Grimm had put humanity to the edge; the Grimm would always be prey to the Hunters."

Ruby's eyes had grown to saucers by the time Weiss finished her sentence, it was a sight she would never forget. "That's all that I know about the Hunters back then, and my family heritage."

"That's so cool; I wish my family had a saying like that. But what language were you speaking? I've never heard anything like it before." Weiss looked down thoughtfully.

"I honestly don't know, my mother never told me, I don't think she even knew. It must be some sort of ancient ritual tongue, lost to the ages." Ruby nodded in agreement. "Yeah you must be right."

The two decided to end the conversation there, and go to the training facility for some extra practise together. It isn't as if they needed it, but they weren't Huntresses yet, and there's always room for improvement.

As they walked the grounds, Ruby noticed that Weiss was smiling; she had been doing it a lot more often recently. Ruby was glad; she could see why Jaunes favourite part of a girl was their smile.

Weiss just looked so beautiful when she was happy.

* * *

**Before anyone rapes the review section saying that I don't know German, don't. I of course do not know German, but I really like AoT so I memorized that phrase. The reason I made it so that Weiss and Ruby don't know it, is because Germany doesn't exist on Remnant, so neither does it's language. That's why Weiss is pronounced with a 'W' instead of a 'V'.**


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13 – The Cat in the Fire

**Alright, two things to say right off the bat. 1: I am not doing any white rose or bumblebee, I _am _hinting at it, only so I can give the girls some form of closure. I will not press or move on any of it. 2: Soooooooooooooo sorry for the week long wait, I'm back at school after the holidays now, and I don't have the internet when I'm there, I can only upload on the weekends, and I now know how hard it is to write _and _do schoolwork. In any case, without further ado... the next chapter.**

* * *

As much as Blake hates to admit it, she enjoys a good scratch behind the ears.

She is a cat after all, and a cat will purr for an ear scratch. Yang learned that Blake will too, if you get it just right.

"Wow, Blake. It sounds like you're really enjoying this." Yang noted; her hands behind Blakes bow. "Be quiet, you're ruining this. If you're going to scratch them, at least be silent so I can really enjoy it."

Yangs only reply was a grin that reached all the way up to her ears, then an odd feeling struck her, she couldn't take it anymore.

Leaning in, very slowly, and very carefully, Yang parted her lips and closed the distance between Blake and herself.

*NOM*

"Nyaaaah!" Blake screamed as Yang softly bit down on her left ear, causing her to flinch violently. Yang laughed as she let go of her ear and blew some air on it for good measure.

Blake, now blushing and panting heavily looked towards Yang with a death glare. "Was that really necessary?" She only smiled wider. "Yep!" She yelled, popping the 'P'. Her smile turned predatory.

"You can't say that you didn't enjoy it." Blushing even more, Blake turned away, refusing to look Yang in the eye. 'I really wish she'd stop messing around like that.'

"Aww, come on Kitty, I was only playing with ya." Blakes blush deepened. 'I wish she'd stop using that ridiculous nickname even more.'

It had been a week since Pyrrha and Velvet took a noticeable step back from Jaune, and Blake was very grateful for it, Jaune needed the breathing room. She may not be in love with him anymore, but Blake was still allowed to worry about the goofball.

Yang had also taken a considerable amount of consideration into the Jaune problem, she realized that it would be best this way, she would've done a terrible job of making Ruby happy after being dumped by the guy **Yang** was going out with.

She was also glad she could mess with Blake again; it was always her favourite pass-time.

Yang couldn't help it; Blake just looked so cute when she was purring like that.

"Ooooh, right there, that's the spot." Blake really **was **enjoying herself.

A knock sounded against the door. "Hello? Is anyone in there?"

Jaune.

"Hold on a second!" Yang replied as she got to her feet. Walking towards the door, she opened it to reveal Jaune standing awkwardly in the doorway.

"What's up?" She asked. Jaune looked away, embarrassed. "Is Blake there? I need to talk to her." At the sound of her name, Blakes bow twitched.

She made her way to the door in no time. "What do you need?" Yang noticed that Blake was still fidgety around Jaune. 'Does she _still _like him? Wow.'

"I need your help with something, could you come with me?" Blake was confused, but agreed to go anyway.

As the two left, a thought struck Yang, it made her grin. 'Looks like Pyrrha won't win against Velvet; Jaunes clearly got a thing for Faunus.'

* * *

The two walked about Beacon for roughly ten minutes before Blake felt they were far enough away from anyone to not be caught talking. "Alright Jaune, what's this about?"

Jaune smiled slightly. "How has your team been? I've noticed that you and Yang have been spending more time together." Blake noticed that Jaune seemed genuinely interested, so she answered honestly.

"Things are much better now, thank you. I'm glad that Yang and I are friends again." Jaune nodded. "So am I, but… don't you think that you've been spending _too _much time together? It almost seems like you're closer than friends. Same with Ruby and Weiss."

Blake looked disgusted. "What? No! Yang and I aren't like that, we're just friends. I don't go that way and I don't think that Yang does either. I'm certain it's the same with Ruby and Weiss. Jaune, where is this coming from?"

Jaune looked almost… relieved? "No where, it's just that I thought that you guys were looking for a relationship again... with each other. Now that I think about it, it does seem kind of silly."

Blake sighed. "It's _very _silly Jaune. I don't think any of us are going to be looking for a relationship, anytime soon. Especially not with each other."

Jaune nodded in understanding. "Alright, that takes care of my first problem…" Blake found his execution lacking, but she decided to roll with it.

"What's problem number two?"

Jaune looked away nervously. "I still can't decide who it is that I like." Blake glared at him. "Jaune, I told you before, I don't want anything to do with this. I'm not going to help here; you need to figure this out yourself."

With one last look at his dejected face, Blake left the secluded corner of Beacon and headed back to her room. She has an ear scratch that she's missing out on.

* * *

Jaune was upset. He was of course happy that his friends finally found closure and gave up on him. But there are still two girls that need to find happiness before he can be happy himself.

He just needed to make a decision. That was all that he needed to do, make a choice.

A hard choice.

Velvet or Pyrrha, which did he like more? Jaune truly had no idea. Velvet is so kind and cute, and she obviously has a tough side to her, she trained to get to Beacon, Jaune didn't. She could break his back at a moment's notice.

Pyrrha was so caring and giving. She had been training him for so long now, without asking for anything in return. The daily training had been doing wonders, though he doubted he really needed the wrestling. Those positions were just _weird._

All in all, Jaune has two beautiful, kind girls after him, and he can do nothing but make one of them heartbroken, the longer he waited the worse it would get too.

'I am so dead.'

* * *

As Blake returned to her room, she found that Yang was no longer alone. Velvet had come to visit. "Hey there Kitty." Yang greeted. "What did Jauney want to talk about?"

Blake rolled her eyes at the ever-present nickname. "He just wanted to see how the team was doing, that's all." She turned towards the only other Faunus she knew that was friendly. "What are you doing here Velvet?"

Said Faunus cast her eyes to the floor, shyly. "I-I need your help… with Jaune." Blake was getting tired of this. 'I have the least experience with this stuff, why does everyone want _my _help?'

"How can I help?" 'Oh, that's why…' Velvet looked towards Blake hopefully. "I'm afraid that Jaune is going to pick Pyrrha over me, I really don't want that, but Jaune won't pick either of us if we fight, plus now he wants us to back off so he can think. I don't know what to do."

Blake thought for a moment. "You just need to be kinder to him, show that you care, and I doubt he'll have any choice but to like you. That's why he likes Pyrrha so much. She gives so much but asks for nothing in return." She looked at Velvet with calm calculating eyes. "You have to do the same."

Yang spoke up. "I gotta agree with Kitty here, going all out won't win the goofball, you're going to have to play it cool if you really want him." Velvet nodded absentmindedly, trying her hardest to take in all the new information.

"Yeah, you're right, both of you. I'll just be nicer to him, and take it easy. It's his choice to make after all." Blake smiled; she truly hoped that the two of them would end up together. But after what Jaune said, that was up in the air at the moment.

Velvet got up to leave for the door. "Thanks you two, I feel a lot more confidant now." Yang smiled as Blake nodded. "Anytime." She said as Velvet left and closed the door behind her.

Blake sat down on her bed with a book as Yang grinned at her. They stayed like this for thirty seconds. "What?" Blake finally cracked.

Yangs smile only widened. "What really happened between you and Jaune back there? I know that he probably would've asked what he did, but there's something else you're not telling me."

Blake sighed; she realized a long time ago that there's no point hiding anything from Yang, she has some inbuilt ability to tell if someone's keeping a secret.

"He thought that you and I were in a relationship, the same for Ruby and Weiss as well." Yang stared dumbfounded, then burst out laughing. "SERIOUSLY?! That's hilarious, as if we were lesbians. He must have some perverted fantasy going or something. HAH!"

Blake joined in on the laugh as well, the thought was rather absurd. As their guffaws died down to small chuckles, the conversation continued. "What else?" Yang asked, knowing that there was more.

'How the hell does she…?' Blakes laughter stopped abruptly, and Yang knew that June had messed up big time. "He asked me to help him with Pyrrha and Velvet; he doesn't know who he likes between them."

Yang could see Jaune asking for help, but she couldn't figure out why Blake was so upset by it. "You don't still like him, do you?" Blake looked at her without emotion.

"I care about him, whether I still have feelings for him, I don't know. It's funny actually; I could ask you the same thing." Yang blushed. "What do you mean?"

Blake grinned. "I've noticed that you're smiling a lot recently, not your regular smile either. It seems to have started around the time Jaune said that the hottest thing on a girl to him is their smile… I wonder why."

Yang gave Blake an emotionless look as well. "Old habits die hard ok. I started smiling like that before he made us give up on him; I forced myself to do it." The two looked at each other evenly, then Blake sighed.

"We're still fighting after all of this, Jaune didn't even mean for us to like him. To think he had such an effect." Yang looked away, mad with herself for continuing to fight the way that she did.

"You're right; I can't believe it's still like this. Even after all this time… it just isn't right." Blake nodded. "I'm sorry for that." Yang only smiled; her real smile. "No, I shouldn't have pushed you like that." Blake smiled back.

As the two sat there smiling to each other, a thought struck Yang. "Want to continue where we left off?" Blakes smile widened. "I thought you'd never ask."

Yang sat down behind Blake and began to scratch her ears again. The purring began immediately.

* * *

Pyrrha was getting tired of waiting around, she knew that Jaune wanted time to decide, but this was getting ridiculous. It had been a week, how indecisive can you get?

But still, Pyrrha obeyed the command of her leader (despite the fact it wasn't a command), and she held her tongue while keeping her distance.

Pyrrha _had _been studying in the dorm room until thoughts about her love interest sprung up, now she can't take her mind off of him. She soon couldn't take her eyes off of him when he entered into the room with a solemn look on his face.

He spotted her staring immediately. "Oh, hey Pyrrha, what are you doing in the room all by yourself?" Jaune asked, surprised by her presence. "Oh nothing." Pyrrha replied. "Just catching up on a bit of studying."

When Pyrrha noticed Jaune shifting nervously, she knew something was up. "What's going on Jaune? You seem anxious." His head snapped up so fast it should have broken his neck.

"What are you talking about? I'm not anxious, why would you think that? I've got nothing to hide, you can't prove anything. IT WASN'T ME!"

Pyrrha hid her smile well when Jaune started rambling; it was a trait he showed on many occasions whenever he was hiding something. Pyrrha would always figure it out though.

Today was no different.

She stood up, walked directly towards him, and pinned Jaune to the door. "What is it?" She asked slowly, completely aware of Jaunes massive blush at the contact. Though blissfully unaware of her own.

Jaune barely managed to stammer out his response. "I-I still d-don't know how I feel about everything…" Pyrrha dropped him in a heart-beat.

"I understand that it may be a hard decision to make, but you're going to have to hurry Jaune, this isn't healthy." She turned to look at Jaune and saw his sad eyes. Exactly what she was expecting.

"I know that, it's just that… I don't want you or Velvet to be hurt, I would never want to see that. I'm still reeling from how team RWBY reacted to it all, and I just don't know what to do anymore."

He leaned his back against the door and slowly slid down to the floor, tears forming in the corner of his eyes.

"I have no idea what I'm doing."

Pyrrha sat down next to him and wrapped her arm around his shoulder. "I know that you never meant for this to happen, but it did, and now you're faced with a decision, it may be tough, but you have to decide. Soon."

Jaune already knew all of the words that Pyrrha spoke, but he still felt as if it helped to hear them. "You're right Pyrrha, I'll make a decision, soon…" He stopped to think for a moment.

"Give me two weeks; and I promise that I'll have my mind made up."

* * *

**I'm sorry about the shorter chapter, as I said before, school is back in, and I can no longer focus, I'm practically dead to the world when I get home, so I'm sorry if the chapter isn't quite up to par with the others. I'm trying.**


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14 – Patience

Pyrrha had always prided herself on her ability to wait for others. She displayed this fact when she first met Jaune, and waited for him to grow into the leader she now knew.

She showed it when she was training back in Sanctum, slowly but surely working her way to the top. She showed it once more when training Jaune herself, he whined and he groaned but he never gave up, and neither did she.

But it had been three days since Jaune had told her when he would make his decision, and she never felt more impatient in her life.

He hadn't been acting any differently, that was for sure. He was still the loveable goofball they all know and love. Pyrrha couldn't handle it much longer, she felt shivers down her spine when they had kissed, she felt her heart was about to explode when he kissed her.

All that she wanted was to feel that again, but she needed to wait. She had ten days, twelve hours fifteen minutes and thirty two seconds left until he would make his decision.

But who's counting, right?

And so she waited, she bided her time until she was ready to strike, Velvet was still a force to be reckoned with, and Pyrrha wouldn't go down easy, all that she needed was the right time.

After all, there were only ten days, twelve hours and fourteen minutes left, and she would make very good use of the time she had. Jaune has no idea what Pyrrha and Velvet both have in store for him.

* * *

Professor Port had finished one of his ravishing tales of his youth as the bell rang signalling for lunch to begin, Jaune couldn't have been gladder.

He only had nine days left to make a decision, and he wasn't any closer than he was on day one. He needed a distraction, maybe Nora would be telling a story in the cafeteria? Sure they were riddled with lies, but they were still interesting.

You'd be surprised by what an insane, explosive-hammer wielder dreams about.

So Jaune hurried along to the cafeteria, grabbing a small snack, a drink and sitting down at the usual table. Velvet and Pyrrha were by his side in no time.

Jaune distinctly remembers asking the two of them to tone down their approaches, although after what he told Pyrrha, he wasn't surprised to see her leading the charge. Velvet acting differently was a surprise though.

He hasn't told her about his decision, and he doubts that Pyrrha would've gotten rid of her upper hand so easily. Despite how nice she was, Pyrrha would do anything for a victory, rather fitting considering her name.

As the rest of their group shuffled into the cafeteria, Jaune noticed that none of them came to sit at the usual table. Jaune found this odd.

"Hey Pyrrha, do you know why no one is coming here?" He asked. Pyrrha replied as if she practiced her words a hundred times over. "I may or may not have told them what you told me in the dorm, they decided not to get in the way." Jaune paled.

"Ah."

Velvet spoke up soon after. "After Blake told me about your little 'choice' I decided to spend more time around you two, wouldn't want you to make any bad decisions that you'd regret for the rest of your life after all…"

Jaune knew that if he turned his head in either direction, daggers would be the only thing looking back. 'This really isn't going to be easy…' He thought to himself. He could practically feel the sympathetic look Ren would be giving him.

Although he could literally hear Yangs laughter in the distance.

"So I take it that you two aren't going to let up during the next couple of days…?" When their glares were turned to him, Jaune shut up immediately and ate his meal in the most amount of peace he could conjure.

There was none.

"So Velvet, I couldn't help but notice that you're spending a lot of time around Jaune lately… I wonder why?" Pyrrha hated hurting her friend, but they were nearing the end of the road and neither wanted to lose.

"I suppose that I have been, I understand that you two are partners, but even then you spend quite a bit of time together… it's unnatural." Velvet wouldn't give up so easily, she would prevail.

"That is true… I suppose it could be because I'm in love with him… then again, who knows…?" Both Velvet _and_ Jaune reeled back in shock when Pyrrha admitted her true feelings, Jaune had not been expecting that.

Velvet was prepared.

"Hmm, I can see why you'd be in love with him… after all, I'm in love with him as well, and I can't wait for him to finally stop lying to himself and admit he loves me back…" Jaune couldn't believe it, he couldn't _comprehend _it, two girls had just admitted that they were in love with him, at the same time.

He had to get out of there.

Standing up and shrugging the girl's arms off of his shoulders when they tried to stop him, Jaune exited the room as fast as his feet would take him.

Both girls followed.

He didn't have a destination in mind; he just knew he couldn't be around two ridiculously attractive girls that were both fighting for his attention. It may be most guys dream, but for Jaune it was a nightmare. One that he would never wake up from.

When Jaune made it outside, the first sight he saw was the training facility. 'Good enough.' He thought as he made his way over to the arena, he needed to blow off steam and clear his head.

There was still a tough decision to make.

He called out to the A.I. and began the training program, as he went into his usual flurry of attacks; he soon found his mind wandering. Both girls had followed him into the arena and silently watched from afar.

'Pyrrha is the kindest girl I've ever met. That is the easiest way to sum her up, she has always been so caring and giving, the only time she's ever asked for anything in return is now, seeing as she's showing me her true feelings.'

As he reset the program, his mind continued to wander.

'But Velvet is so bold. She clearly means well, and doesn't want anyone to fight, even after all that she's gone through for being a Faunus, Velvet still cares so much for humanity… and me.'

Jaune noticed a six percent decrease in that last round, so he decided to stop thinking and start fighting. He of course fell back into his predicament in no time.

'I can't believe that they're in love with me… the thought simply boggles the mind. How could two girls like _Pyrrha _and _Velvet _be in love with me? Jaune Arc, resident goofball?' His thoughts soon turned dark.

'And how can I make it so that one of them doesn't get hurt too badly?' When the Artificial Intelligence told Jaune that he performed twelve percent worse in that round, he decided that training wasn't helping him after all.

He attempted to leave the arena, but was intercepted by Pyrrha and Velvet before he took two steps into the bleachers. "Hello Jaune." Pyrrha greeted. "How are you today?" Asked Velvet.

They were unnaturally kind, and it was really freaking Jaune out. "Hello Pyrrha, and thank you Velvet, I'm fine… I think that I'm gonna go now…" As he awkwardly slipped away from the hostile women, Jaune felt both relief and remorse for his actions.

He really needed to get his feelings in order, for their sakes.

* * *

Pyrrha was growing even more impatient as the day went by, Jaune was outwardly avoiding her. Though she took solace in the fact that he was avoiding Velvet too, something had to be done, she would not lose.

Pyrrha knew that if Jaune wasn't going to be in the training facility, the only other place he would be was the dorm room. So that was the place she first went to find him, Velvet was, of course, in tow.

The two love-struck girls were at the door in no time. As they attempted to open it they soon found a small problem. It was locked. So Pyrrha knocked on the door, trying to persuade the leader to give them entrance.

"Jaune? It's me, Pyrrha, open the door and let me in." They heard a small noise on the other side of the door and a muffled voice. "No way, I'm sick of you and Velvet fighting, I'm not letting anyone in until the end of the day." Pyrrha had expected his response; luckily, she always kept her Scroll on her. Jaune always forgets that you need a Scroll to unlock the door.

So she did, opening the door, Pyrrha found Jaune lying on his bed looking up to the roof. "Right… the Scroll. *Sigh* I wasn't kidding when I said that you needed to back away, if this fighting keeps up, I won't pick either of you two." They both knew the warning had no merit.

"Jaune, we're both just scared ok? It isn't easy knowing that the love of your life is so close to reciprocating your feelings, but also on the verge of dumping you." Jaune sighed again.

"I know that it isn't easy, that's why it's so hard trying to make a choice, I know that I'm going to break the heart of one of my best friends, that isn't easy to think about." He looked between the two sadly.

Pyrrha and Velvet had the same thought at that moment, though Velvet spoke up. "Jaune, stop thinking about how we'll feel, you have to think about who _you _like, and who _you _want to be with. Don't even take into consideration how we'll feel about it. Just make your choice."

Jaune was shocked by her statement, but still took what she said into consideration. He soon realized that she was right; it would save a lot of time and confusion if he started thinking about himself for once. So he did.

He smiled towards the two girls and was going to say something profound and meaningful, but his mouth was busy at the time. With another.

Pyrrha had leaned in close and kissed Jaune, directly on the lips. Jaune pulled back immediately but the damage had been done. Velvet gave a look of disgust towards Pyrrha and shoved her out of the way. She then took Jaunes lips in her own, and kissed him as well. As they parted, Jaune had a look between great confusion, and horrible pleasure.

Velvet and Pyrrha gave each other even looks before walking out of the room. They both knew that they would need to plan heavier assualts on Jaune if they wanted him to pick them, they had completely forgotten about Jaune asking the to take it easy.

Jaune wasn't too upset though.

* * *

Ren had a bad feeling when he saw Velvet and Pyrrha walk out of his room glowering at each other. His feeling worsened when he saw that they were blushing furiously as well.

He ran into the room to find Jaune sitting on his bed, looking like he had just seen a ghost. Ren knew it wouldn't be quite so simple though.

After much deliberation and a lot of awkward stammering, Ren managed to get the whole story out of Jaune, he was surprised that Pyrrha would do such a thing, _again _no less. But he knew that it wasn't over just yet.

The two girls weren't exactly pushovers.

Things would have to end soon, or blood will spill.

* * *

Pyrrha was conflicted, a feeling she had far too often nowadays. She was relieved that she got to feel Jaunes lips against her own again; she would never get over that feeling.

But she also felt guilty about doing it in front of Velvet; it seemed like such a good idea at the time. Now all she could do was wait for Velvet to enact her next attack, it wouldn't be pretty.

But Pyrrha was ready for whatever the rabbit had to throw at her, Velvet always seems cute and weak on the outside, but there was always a beast lying within, Pyrrha would have to watch out for its fangs.

She knew that Jaune would make a decision in another nine days, which gave her nine days to make him fall for her; all that she needed was the right time, the perfect opportunity. She needed the one thing she had been lacking these past few weeks.

Pyrrha needed patience.


End file.
